One Step Closer

Bruxelles

2011-12-15T11:34:00.001-06:00

From November 23rd, 2011:

It had been a tough week, so when I sat in my final Friday lecture at 5pm, I had already been chewing on several ideas to reward myself. The lecture had seemingly lost some of its focus, so I lost my focus too, and started looking at railroad tickets.

The next morning at 5:35am I was on the bus, and by 6:58 I was on the Eurostar to Brussels. Two hours later I stepped out onto the European continent for the first time in my life, into a fantastic French-speaking world that had previously only existed in books, films and my imagination.

Rejection

2011-12-14T13:07:00.000-06:00

It turns out comma splices somewhat lessen the pain of rejection.

Just received this one:

"Thank you for taking the time to interview with us, we enjoyed meeting you. We have, however, decided not to pursue your application further at this time."

Alchemy

2011-10-21T04:35:00.002-05:00

I’m sitting on a beautiful bench with cast-iron hand rests in the shape of winged sphinxes, overlooking the Thames. The sun is above Westminster Abbey, and when the clouds give it a gap it turns the river into glaring gold. Having just finished my class on the Economic History of Latin America, I wandered down here to eat my lunch and type up the notes from our group presentations on our reading assignments. I succeeded in eating my lunch (a ham sandwich with mango chutney, a juicy English cucumber and a small piece of cheese), but only lasted about 30 seconds on my schoolwork. I have decided to blame it on the wind, which happens to be blowing quite briskly and won’t allow my notes to stay on my lap, or beside me.

I’m wearing my new forest green trench coat, which I purchased last week under the supervision of Clare and Arthur, my landlords but also my great friends. Arthur is an American who has lived long enough here to lose his American accent and wed Clare, a stunning, vivacious English girl from Kent. Arthur popped the collar of the coat when I tried it on, and I laughed and put it back down. Then he explained that here you actually pop your collar for practical reasons—to ward off that chilly, pesky wind. It is as the English are fond of saying, brilliant.

The first couple weeks of my program have been up and down. I’m adjusting to a new style of academia and learning in general, which is quite different from the system I’ve become accustomed to for the last 16 years of my education. Also, the first few classes gave me the impression that my program was far different than what I’d expected and that I would’ve been better off in a different one. I contemplated postponing a year, or even dropping out and joining the Romney campaign. But a few fantastic lectures and readings convinced me I’m in the right place for now, and that this is also the right timing. I’ve been attending…

There’s the sun again. I’m blinded by the alchemized river right in front of me, but the rays of light feel so good on my cold fingers. The London Eye is also fully in the sunlight and glistens against the backdrop of tired gray clouds. Behind it the gothic towers of Parliament are still in shadow. And now the sun has slipped away again, at about the same pace as the grey-headed man smoking an oversized pipe strolled by me, paused to look at the river and then crossed the road towards the tube station.

I’ve been attending career presentations almost every night. Consulting, Banking, Investment Research are all still on the table, but at this point I’m leaning heavily towards consulting. I think it will give me the variety of experiences I seek, reward my diverse skill-set, and help me learn to apply my creativity and problem-solving skills to enhance the performance of businesses, organizations and governments.

Time to succumb to the wind and put my fingers back in the pockets of this nice warm coat. Cheers.

Accountable Education Reform Hits a Snag

2011-10-19T11:24:00.003-05:00

Friends,

I've written a letter to the members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about a recent change to the proposed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reform that would ensure that all teachers are routinely evaluated. The changes would scrap these requirements and are in response to intense lobbying by Teachers Unions to (mostly Republican) Senators.

I encourage you to write these Senators. The StudentsFirst Campaign will make the process easy, and even have a form letter you can send if you are short on time. Check it out here.

Here's my letter:

Dear Senators,

I'm one of the lucky ones. I went to a great school and had great teachers because I lived in the right zip code. I have completed a degree in economics and am now working on my masters degree. In my recent coursework on the economics of education I carefully considered research from all sides of the educational spectrum in an effort to understand how we can make education better. Based on that research I have firm beliefs that measuring student and teacher performance is absolutely critical to getting better outcomes.

Like many policymakers, including the majority of you, I agree that we need to reform No Child Left Behind. But cutting teacher evaluations is not the right step forward. All students deserve the chance to be taught by evaluated, effective teachers.

As members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee I encourage you to restore the provisions on teacher evaluation originally placed in the bill by Senator Harkin.

Please do it for my siblings, my future children, and all the kids who aren't quite as lucky as I was to hit the zip code lottery.

Sincerely,

K. Michael Monroe

Hare Krishnas and Free Lunches

2011-10-17T10:15:00.005-05:00

I collected data while I ate the lunch I'd brought from home--Bombay mix with carrots and a granola bar. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. With an average donation of 75p, I think the Hare Krishna might be coming close to covering their costs.

Thames

2011-10-04T03:39:00.001-05:00

She's dressed in black.
Not deep in the cave of the Tube
But just a stone's throw from the
lap-lap-lap
of the mucky Thames

Furiously attacking her sonata.
Tired-taut strings sing yet again
The ole Stradivarius not ole enough.

Above her cabs swerve like geese
fighting unexpected gusts of careless
cycles, double-deckers and joggers.

She can't see the young couple
boarding the tentaculous eye,
glowing deep-sea electric blue against
the gray-purple depths of sky,

Or the Union Jack above the spired needles of Parliament,
sounding out the last-of-the-season breeze,
where mum and hundreds of grandmums have flown before,

Or the jade-shining windows above Ben's big hands,
wondering why they must always be different,
when the rest of the tower reflects efficiently-dull fluorescent orange.

The snake-charmer at mid-bridge.
The bagpiper at quarter-bridge.
The drag-queen Elizabeth at bridge-end.
The hot-dog hawker.
The gaping tourists.
The trigger happy novice photographers.
Not to mind.

40 pence. 2 quid. She plays on.

First Day of School

2011-10-03T10:31:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting on a chair in front of the LSE Library, listening to Bossa Nova and looking around at all the five to seven story buildings that surround our little university courtyard and cafe.

The past four days have been the finest days of the summer, some Londoners are telling us. It has been between 75 and 85 degrees during the day, and today a wonderful breeze is weaving through the crowded London streets carrying on it scents of bakeries, chain-smokers, fall leaves and old red brick. Saturday morning I swam across the River Lea and toured the sculpture wing of the Victoria and Albert Museum with Alex and our friend here studying art, Claire.

Sunday morning we strolled around the Serpentine in Hyde Park, and I relaxed on the green reading Billy Collins. We were joined in the afternoon by a few new friends and made chicken korma with naan bread and stir-fried courgettes (British for zucchini). We watched LDS General Conference late into the evening joined by our landlady and her husband who have traveled in from Kent to spend the week fixing up the flat a bit. We ate and watched, and ate, and watched until nearly midnight.

Today my first lectures have been given by Dr. James Putzel of the International Development department, recounting the basic outlines of development theory and how we will proceed through our courses. LSE owns a collection of buildings in a small 3-4 block area that surrounds the western side of the Royal Courts of Justice. About half of them are historic, stone buildings with toffee-colored wooden interiors. The other half are modern but slightly aged towers of glass and steel.

About 60% of my classmates are from countries other than the US or the UK; imagine the variety of dress, hairstyles and accents! Time for my next class, on the history of economic growth in Latin America.

Fjords, Forests and Trains

2011-09-25T17:23:00.012-05:00

A few more pictures of Norway, straight from the camera. More to come on Flickr and once we get back to the UK.

My mission to swim in a Fjord was realized. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. The water was heavy and clear, but not very salty.

Hiking in the forests above Bergen, in the rain.

View of the fjords out our train window. The "most beautiful train ride in the world" from Bergen to Oslo sure lived up to its billing.

The train passed through summer, fall and then winter as it climbed and crested the mountains.

On Saturday we took the train from Oslo north to Gran, where a large chunk of my Monroe ancestors, through the Serdahl-Andersen line are from. This is a picture of the historic cemetary that has been use in the city since the 11th century. Chances are pretty good that my great-great-great-grandparents and their families are buried here, although the tombstones have since been replaced.

We stayed with Josh and Kimberly Oldham in Oslo. Kimberly was my sister Sheralie's roommate at BYU. We are so grateful for their warm hospitality and enjoyed a fierce match of Settlers of Cataan on Saturday night. (Josh won).

Bergen

2011-09-22T15:36:00.006-05:00

Alex and I are spending the next 6 days in Norway and Sweden. We started today in Bergen, the largest city on the western side of Norway. It is over one thousand years old and served as a center for the vikings and also the Hanseatic league. It was rainy and cold, but unbelievably beautiful. I will be able to tell more about it in future posts, but for now wanted to at least share a few photos.

12 Hours in the UK

2011-09-19T18:51:00.004-05:00

Been in the UK for 12 hours. Observations:

1) My "sorry" already has a British twang to it.
2) We live within walking distance of all necessary stores. Very nice.
3) Grocery shopping made me so happy I wanted to move in between the aisle of Indian food and the aisle of chutneys and sauces. This is going to be a good year for my stomach.
4) Flat is extremely pleasant, with thick, quiet walls and a nice third floor view of the neighborhood. New roommates are fastidiously clean and appreciated me making dinner.
5) Dinner was tomato sausage + spicy Indian sauce + potatoes + onion + brown basmati rice with mint and chip ice cream for dessert.
6) The "projects" of Tottenham are really, really nice. We live in a fine neighborhood with plenty of trees, confusing streets and roundabouts, and pleasant brick buildings.
7) I highly recommend flying Air New Zealand. Great food, cheery service, a nice palette for the interior of the plane (black, slate gray, dark green and some purple accents) and a hysterical rugby-themed security video.

Jet lag is messing with my brain. I better go to bed while I still can.

i thank you god for most this amazing day

2011-08-03T00:46:00.003-05:00

ee cummings

I've been thinking about this poem the last few weeks. I kept repeating the parts of it I knew over and over again in my mind, until finally I had to go find it in its entirety.

text

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

sound

song (composed by Eric Whitacre)

I love the choral interpetation by Eric Whitacre. I sang it at a regional choir event in 2002, and then had the chance to sing under the baton of Eric Whitacre in 2005 and again in 2006.

This Looks Really Cool

2011-03-18T15:26:00.002-05:00

This project sounds really cool, and the website will be coming live tomorrow! Canada sent 39 musicians out into the wild with filmmakers to spend some time making art in Canada's 13 national parks. From http://nationalparksproject.ca/video/

National Parks Project - Trailer from Ryan J. Noth on Vimeo.

Louise Radnofsky Responds to My Criticism of Her WSJ Article

2011-03-07T17:35:00.014-06:00

In today's WSJ, Louise Radnofsky authored an article entitled "Big Payday for Some Hill Staffers." Here are the opening sentences:

"Departing members of the House of Representatives awarded millions of dollars in extra pay to aides as they closed down their offices, according to lawmakers' spending records.

The 96 lawmakers paid their employees $6.7 million, or 31%, more in the fourth quarter of 2010 than they did, on average, in the first three quarters of the year.

That's about twice as much as the 16% increase awarded by lawmakers who returned to the 112th Congress, according to LegiStorm, an organization that tracks congressional salaries.

The disparity suggests retiring or defeated members used remaining funds in their official expenses budgets to boost salaries for staffers before they left Washington, cash that might otherwise have been returned to the U.S. Treasury."

Did that second sentence bother you? It bothered me. So, on a whim, I wrote the author and questioned why she hadn't worded it differently. To me, it seemed like a subtle but important example of editorial bias.

I feel like during my internship with the Treasury Department during the fall I had a chance to really start seeing this better. Each morning I read the Financial Times, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal as I prepared and delivered my daily news briefing to the US Undersecretary of International Affairs. I also skimmed the Washington Post and Politico.

Disclaimer, I begin preaching here.) Seeing where each paper placed their respective articles, how they headlined them, and how the authors described and analyzed the events showed very clear difference of world view and opinion. I was able to see the same story interpreted three, four or five times. It was fascinating. It confirmed my belief that none of us are completely objective, and neither is any paper. Recognizing these biases, both in the media we consume and within ourselves, makes us more careful analysts of world events.

But I digress. I was shocked to receive a response from Louise Radnofsky, only fifteen minutes after emailing her. Here is our conversation, in its entirety:

-------------------------

Louise,

Thank you for reporting the recent pay raises that occurred in December of last year. Keeping track of this kind of thing is exactly the reason journalism is so important.

Why, though, in your second sentence, did you list the number of congresspersons, rather than the number of employees? It seems extremely misleading. The average reader sees $6.7 million being split among 96 people.

But the total number isn't very telling. How many employees was this spread among? At no point in your article did you say what the average salary bonus was, or the total number of outgoing staffers.

Here's the ironic thing: I agree that this is surprising, appalling and necessary to report, but I lose faith in your credibility when I glance back and realize the numbers aren't saying what I thought they were. Why not strengthen the case with the most descriptive statistics possible?

Sincerely,

Michael Monroe

------------------------

Thanks for your thoughtful note.

It's always hard to decide which stats to include and which ones to leave out to avoid overwhelming readers. The article focuses, rightly I think, on the elected officials who made the decisions rather than their employees. The examples indicate the average size of a Congressional office (17 or 18 staffers.) There's a second problem, though. It's not always possible to identify whether a particular employee received a bonus/ extra payment. What's very clear is that office payrolls jumped as a whole. So for the sake of accuracy, that was what we had to focus on.

I take your point though. I always want to make things as clear as possible and will continue to bear this sort of thing in mind. I think it seems clear on a first read to a lot of people in DC that we're talking about 96 member offices because nobody's bonus could be that big in a pool of $6.7 million. But in NY, and for people elsewhere who read about corporate payouts... that's the sort of thing they expect to hear. And I should remember that.

Hope this helps.

Best,
Louise

------------------------

Thank you for your prompt response. I understand what you're saying, and as a student of economics understand how difficult it can be to provide descriptive characteristics for a nuanced set of data.

Thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule to respond to my email. Best wishes in all your work,

Michael Monroe

------------------------

Louise defended herself well, but I still think that the math tells a slightly less dramatic story. If the 96 lawmakers average 17 people per staff, the &6.7 million turns into about $4,180.00 per person. Considering that many staffers take leave during the fall election time and put in extremely abnormal hours (working nonstop the weeks immediately before the election) maybe $4,000 on top of a $60,000 salary doesn't seem unreasonable.

Is it still an interesting and important finding that outgoing Democrats paid more than Republicans who were returning? Yes. This should be the focus of the article. As it is currently written, I think it overstates the point.

What do you think?

BYU, ESPN and the Honor Code

2011-03-02T13:16:00.003-06:00

I, like many of my fellow students, am mourning the loss of Brandon Davies. It has been interesting to see the national reaction. Check out what some of the ESPN guys had to say:

Call Your Senator

2011-02-24T20:34:00.002-06:00

Join the ONE campaign, and call the Senate to discourage harmful cuts from being made to foreign assistance programs. These are vital to our national security and to humanitarian assistance programs around the world.

Utah: Mike Lee (202) 224-5444 and Orin Hatch (202) 224-5251
CA: Barbara Boxer (202) 224-3553 and Dianne Feinstein (202) 224-3841
ID: Mike Crapo (202) 224-6142 and James Risch (202) 224-2752
NV: Harry Reid (202) 224-3542 and John Ensign (202) 224-6244
DC: Psyche

The ONE campaign works for promoting transparency, evaluation and accountability in funding for international development programs. Much of its efforts are to help secure funding for AIDS and Malaria programs in Sub-saharan Africa. I've worked with them for about a year now. I think that in this case the Congress is entirely justified in its attempts to want to reign in the budget--that is are most significant long-term security risk.

However, I believe that sharp cuts to our foreign assistance programs would put the well-being of millions who rely on these programs for life-saving drug treatments and vaccines. Research has shown that sudden cuts to these programs can cause instability and conflict--the kinds of conflict that often spur terrorism and cause massive social costs. It is thus in our own best interest to protect our national security by continuing these programs, and also in the best interest of those who live in poverty as well. Furthermore, these programs represent less than 0.7% of the annual budget. To cut these programs, but not touch entitlement spending like social security and medicare is preposterous. Those represent that massive spending commitments that is jeopardizing the future of our nation.

For more information on the ONE campaign, check out www.one.org.

Wisdom from Machiavelli

2011-01-29T00:12:00.002-06:00

I just read Machiavelli's "The Prince" in a single sitting. I found it cynical, provocative and brilliant. Machiavelli's theories explain the success and failure of dozens, if not hundreds of leaders. To me it is the kind of work that makes me a little uncomfortable, but is extremely useful because it explains so much of history's most pivotal events. Here are some less-often quoted passages that stuck out to me.

On the appropriate time to deal with a problem:

"In the beginning the disease is easy to cure, difficult to diagnose; but, after a while, if it has not been diagnosed and treated early, it becomes easy to diagnose and hard to cure. So, too, in politics, for if you foresee problems while they are a far off (which only a prudent man is able to do) they can easily be dealt with; but when, because you have failed to see them coming, you allow them to grow to the point that anyone can recognize them, then it is too late to do anything."

On a leader's relationship with the military:

"For the armed man has contempt for the man without weapons; the defenseless man does not trust someone who can overpower him... [Thus, a ruler] should not only keep his troops in good order and see they are well-trained; he should be always ought hunting, thereby accustoming his body to fatigue. He should take the opportunity to study the lie of the land, climbing the mountains, descending into the valleys, crossing the plains, fording rivers, and wading through marshes."

On a leader's appreciation of history and commitment to hard work:

"Every ruler should read history books, and in them he should study the actions of admirable men... He will never relax during peacetime, but will always be working to take advantage of the opportunities peace presents, so he will be fully prepared when adversity comes. When his luck changes, he must be ready to fight back."

I don't endorse the content of these quotes, nor do I intend for their publication here to be read merely as a commentary on current global affairs. These are simply astute, provocative statements, worth examining for their positive rather than normative value.

This being said, I could't help but think of Egypt's Mubarak and Tunisia's Ben Ali as I read Machiavelli tonight. Are they using it as their playbook? Have they ventured from it, or has it failed them? Mubarak just sacked his entire cabinet, as Machiavelli recommends in Chapter 19 on how one should avoid hatred and contempt. "Rulers should delegate responsibility for unpopular actions, while taking personal responsibility for those that will win favor."

Did Machiavelli describe the behavior that dictators tend to re-discover on their own, by observing the failures of those around them? How many dictators throughout the last five centuries have read Machiavelli? What about today's dictators? Do Kim Jong-il and Robert Mugabe keep a copy near their bedside? We can only speculate.

Regardless of whether Machiavelli merely describes autocratic behavior or serves as a step-by-step manual, it is a worthwhile read.

The Truth about the Global Economy

2011-01-04T09:39:00.003-06:00

Here is my recently published Political Review article, in case you missed it:

Whether it is the heated barbs of Eurozone bailout debates for the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), trade quarrels with China, or rising concerns with capital flowing rapidly to emerging markets, some see current events as evidence of the fact that our increasingly multipolar system is losing both civility and stability. But do the actions of global economic actors match up with the heated rhetoric we hear in the press?

We find that despite the hot air, the post-crisis global economic recovery has been marked by strong unanimity and global consensus in taking the most vital steps toward recovery. Why is this not more apparent? Perhaps it is because analysts fail to acknowledge the difference between what politicians say to their constituents out of political necessity and what they say when sitting at the negotiation table.

For example, it might be a surprise for some to learn that China is letting its currency appreciate. That means the US strategy is working. Since September 2, the Chinese renminbi has been allowed to appreciate 2.2%, a rate that if continued would signal an important step toward dealing with global imbalances. It is happening slowly—but it is happening. One of the principle reasons China will continue to let the renminbi appreciate is that it is feeling pressure from more than just the United States. Developing nations’ export industries are being undercut by the undervalued renminbi as domestic manufacturers lose market shares. Although most lack the chutzpa to stand up to China on their own, when nations all sit around the G20 table, they agree that China needs to respect the rules of the international economic system. The recent G20 summit was far from the failure that some media outlets attempted to cast it as. Leaders agreed that structural imbalances must be addressed, and agreed on targets for creating a framework to help mitigate the danger these imbalances can create with help from the IMF.

Furthermore, the notion that the world is currently in a “currency war” is a myth. The truth is that measures to limit the flow of capital, called capital controls, are being used carefully and judiciously. Capital controls were once discouraged by the Washington Consensus, but the IMF and other key economic players have recently reversed their positions, acknowledging that when used properly, capital controls can alter the composition of capital flows away from dangerous “hot money” into more stable long-term investments. Brazil, South Korea, Thailand, and Peru have instituted capital controls that, some argue, will help the United States’ quantitative easing promote domestic growth by discouraging the flight of capital to emerging markets.
Although quantitative easing, dubbed QE2, is indeed a controversial Keynesian stimulus move, there is widespread consensus that full economic recovery for countries ranging from Mexico to Malaysia will require getting the US economy rolling once more. As is generally the case with monetary policy, the purpose of QE2 is to grease the economy’s wheels in order to lower unemployment, and make up for a lack of fiscal stimulus from a gridlocked congress. Unlike Chinese policy, however, the effects of QE2 on exchange rates are a byproduct rather than a primary objective. Some analysts have protested that monetary policy will mean skyrocketing inflation, but so far these predictions have not held any water: October’s core inflation trickled in at a shockingly low 0.6%, the lowest recorded since 1957. At this point deflation is a much more pressing concern.

However, the US must return to taking a greater role in global economic leadership by reversing its abandonment of free trade. It appears President Obama may have made a significant step in this regard by completing negotiations with South Korea on a free trade agreement just last Friday (December 3). Moving free trade forward gives Obama a chance to prove to voters that he can buck protectionist pressures from both agro-subsidy-drunk conservatives and seemingly luddite labor in order to boost long-term economic growth. Other agreements have already been negotiated with Panama and Colombia, and have been waiting years for a signature. Obama needs to quit stalling and sign them immediately.

Despite some hiccups, it seems global leaders are doing the right thing and then telling constituents what they need to politically. Since the crisis, the G8 has been modernized into the G20. The IMF and World Bank’s leadership structures have shifted greater power toward emerging economies. Trade has rebounded and flourished faster than anticipated. Protectionism has not rebounded, nor set back years of careful integration. Do not underestimate the global consensus—the howls and polemics are misguided and misplaced.

Mike is a Senior studying Economics. He is currently an intern with the International Affairs Department of the United States Treasury.

http://www.byupoliticalreview.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=134:the-truth-about-the-global-economy&catid=34:articles

Viva Zapata!

2010-09-25T06:46:00.000-05:00

This land is yours.
But you must protect it.

It won't be yours long
if you don't protect it.

If necessary, with your lives,
and your children with their lives.

Don't discount your enemies.
They will be back.

And if your house is burned,
build it again.

If your corn is destroyed, replant.
If your children die, bear more.

If they drive you out of the valley,
live on the mountain, but live.

You always look for leaders,
strong men without faults.

There aren't any.
There are only men like yourselves.

They change. They desert. They die.

There are no leaders but yourselves.

A strong people
is the only lasting strength.

John Steinback "Viva Zapata!" (1952)

The Danger of the Single Story

2010-07-22T23:26:00.003-05:00

This is one of the ideas I've been thinking about for the last few years, but never quite successfully explained it in a few words. Here Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie completely nails it. This is the reason why I've enjoyed so much reading Al Jazeera news along with the BBC, New York Times, AllAfrica and LeMonde. There are so many wonderful stories and perspectives that can enrich our perspective and our learning.

Try picking a single story, and then reading about it from each perspective. Watch how each regards ideas and other cultures. How do Qatari journalists describe China? What do African journalists have to say about FIFA and the World Cup? The recent story about the Iranian nuclear scientist Shahram Amiri--was he kidnapped and released or did he defect and then change his mind? There are some vastly different perspectives on what happened. There are many stories to be told.

This isn't exactly what Adichie is getting at, but rather, an extension. I believe her comments are more specifically targeted to widening our perspective on other cultures and peoples, but I think the undertones of what she discusses is something that connects a whole host of culture-war creating phenomena.

A major, well-deserved shout-out to my roommate Sean who sent me this video. He is in Africa, by the way, in Cairo, studying Arabic. Thanks buddy!

What do you guys think? What have been some examples you've seen of perspectives that have been completely marginalized or undervalued? Is this, perhaps, one of the sources of many of our problems of international politics and the struggle for peace?

2010-06-13T15:44:00.001-05:00

Tacos Al Pastor at Taco Surf, Puerto Nuevo, Baja

My pal David kisses a sea cucumber.

Middle Cave Lake (Timpanogos Caves)

Timpanogos Caves

"Mother to Son"--Langston Hughes (1922)

2010-03-25T12:36:00.001-05:00

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now --
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Favorite Passages of Nelson Mandela

2010-01-10T16:50:00.002-06:00

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of fate
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years finds
And shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

- Invictus by William Ernest Henley

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

- The Man in the Arena by Teddy Roosevelt

Korea II

2010-01-10T16:33:00.000-06:00

Korea

2010-01-10T16:29:00.000-06:00

Sinus free is the way to be!

2009-12-22T11:59:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone,

So some of you have called wondering how the surgery went, but unfortunately I haven't been able to take your calls. My mouth is indeed wired shut right now, so I thought I'd put an update on how everything went up here.

First of all, the surgery was a TMJ corrective surgery, in which my upper jaw was moved forward 8mm. According to my doctor, the bottom jaw continued to grow over the past couple years and for some reason the upper jaw didn't keep up. This meant that the teeth weren't lined up at all, that the bottom jaw occasionally popped out of alignment (and that didn't generally feel too good) and that the underbite prevented me from sufficiently chewing my food, which would continue to take its toll on my digestive system.

So yesterday I went in for surgery to move the top jaw forward. They put me under and then made two long incisions along the inside of the lip and basically stretched it all up and open. They then cut the upper jaw completely off of the skull and then reattached it with four metal plates, further forward. This meant there was much more space for the nose and the sinuses, and that the sinuses had to be detached. The doctor found that the sinuses had been severely infected for a long time and that several polyps had formed. He ended up then removing the sinuses in their entirety. Apparently they will grow back.

The good news is that there is much more space in the nasal cavity and I can already tell that breathing through my nose will be a lot better. The skin around the nose and the lips however has lost feeling (as it has all been detached from the face) and some of the feeling may or may not return. It's kind of funny but when i try and pop my ears, my whole face ripples, and the muscles spasm kind of randomly.

Overall, I feel so blessed to be in a position where this surgery can be done, and that everything went smoothly, even with the discovery of the infection.

As far as recovery, my teeth are currently wired shut and my head is in a giant sock that holds my chin in place. My face is about as swollen as a marshmallow and because there are no sinuses any more, I can feel a pretty constant stream of blood dripping down the inside of the face. My mom has been an excellent nurse, and I've been having chicken broth and ensure through a syringe that i then suck through my clenched teeth. Many other people have their jaws wired shut for weeks, but hopefully mine will only be for a few days and then I'll switch to rubber bands. I can't imagine having them wired for weeks - its really pretty painful and inconvenient.

All in all, things have gone just fine, and like I said before. I just feel really blessed for good doctors and pain medication.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Mike

Adventures with Sheralie and Co.

2009-11-27T02:22:00.005-06:00

This Thanksgiving, I've been very grateful for the chance to visit my sister Sheralie and her husband Pete in Manila, Philippines. We've had a marvelous time - catching up, playing with Jeffrey, Laird and Lucy, and getting a chance to see the Philippines.

Here are some pics:

Morning rice fields and water buffalo

The canyon below Pagsanjan Falls

Sheralie, Jeff and I with our awesome guides.

(I'm going to devote a whole post to how incredible they were later.)

Footbridge. Pagsanjan Village.

View from footbridge.

Pagsanjan

World War II American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila

17,202 buried

36,285 missing

The inscription on the south side of the bell tower reads:

TAKE UNTO THYSELF O LORD

THE SOULS OF THE VALIANT

How to drink water from your hands

2009-11-02T23:03:00.002-06:00

Are you in need of a satisfying, soothing late night snack!? Look no further! Here is the secret to the tastiest, most refreshing evening drink you've ever tasted:

1. After you are done brushing your teeth and washing your face, take an extra moment to wash your hands so they're nice and clean.

2. Gently cup them together (as if you were holding 4-5 eggs in them) and pay extra attention to that little spot right above where your pinky fingers meet - that is the weak spot, so make sure it is tightly closed.

3. Fill your hands with refreshingly cold water (this might be much more difficult if you live south of the Tropic of Cancer and north of the Tropic of Capricorn). This is easiest and best done when you live close to the mountains, but it can work just about anywhere on the right day.

4. Bring your hands up halfway to your face, and then bring your face to your hands.

5. Rest your chin against the two palms of your hands - don't go vertically into them otherwise you risk getting your face completely soaked. As it is you can expect your nose to get a little wet, but that helps it taste more refreshing.

6. As you drink in the water continue to press your hands together and you'll be amazed and how much water you can fit in your hands.

7. Repeat 2-3 times or until satiated. (Remember not to drink more than three handfuls before bed, or you might just have to wake up at 3 of 4 in the morning!)

-----------------------------------------------------

I don't know what it is that is so refreshing and incredible about drinking out of my hands, but I've been addicted to it for a couple of years now. It seems something like almost Ameliesque, but it really is satisfying and somehow tastier than having water in a glass or cup or mug or even a brand-new nalgene bottle.

Give it a try tonight. It will be life-changing.

A Time for Thought

2009-10-29T16:17:00.002-05:00

There are moments in life when we just need to stop and think. This week has been one of them for me. Last night I drove up on top of a mountain and thought. And I thought. And I thought. I needed it. It was good. I didn't decide what I needed to decide. No contract was signed. In a way I merely rehashed things I've thought about hundreds of times. But in the thinking there emerged energy- energy that I needed to do what it is I've thought about so many times before. I realized that I've already made many of these decisions, and that I will continue to move forward.

Kenneth Burke, provocative thinker of the 1950s and 60s (see http://www.kbjournal.org/kbs for more information on him) is author of a text I am using in my English class on rhetoric and persuasion. His ideas were catalysts for many of my thoughts. Here are some of them:

"If you internalize... a variety of motives... you get a complex individual of many voices. And though these may be treated, under the heading of Symbolic, as a concerto of principles mutually modifying one another, they may likewise be seen, from the standpoint of Rhetoric, as a parliamentary wrangle in which the individual has put together somewhat as he puts together his fears and hopes, friendships and enmities, health and disease, or those tiny rebirths whereby, in being born to some new condition he may be dying to a past condition, his development being dialectical, a series of terms in perpetual transformation" (A Rhetoric of Motives, 38).

"But a modern "post-Christian" rhetoric must also concern itself with the thought that, under the heading of appeal to audiences, would also be included, any ideas or images privately addressed to the individual self for moralistic or incantatory purposes. For you become your own audience, in some respects a very lax one, in some respects very exacting, when you become involved in psychologically stylistic subterfuges for presenting your own case to yourself in sympathetic terms (and even terms that seem harsh can often be found on close scrutiny to be flattering, as with neurotics who visit suffering upon themselves in the name of high-powered motives which, whatever their discomfiture, feed pride)."

"Only those voices from without are effective which can speak in the language of a voice within."

It wouldn't be feasible to try and explain everything that I've been thinking about, but it is interesting in reading these citations that I was actually thinking about thinking. Suspending myself above myself added additional clarity that I needed.

The overwhelming resolution to the crisis of thought has been a feeling of gratitude. Note that this doesn't stem from a resolution of the crisis itself. Sometimes that shouldn't be expected.

In other news, I've been sick the past couple of days with a mysterious variant of the flu. No fever, just the chills, vomiting and fatigue. Who knows what it was, but it seems its about done. I celebrated this morning by downing eight dollars worth of fruit products at Jamba Juice. Eight dollars on orange juice, a big coldbuster shake and a whopping shot of wheat grass! It was my victory toast to my brain, for doing some good, quality thinking.

Lake Powell

2009-08-20T11:48:00.000-05:00

Chapstick is a conspiracy.

2009-08-06T19:19:00.002-05:00

I really doubt that I am the first to have noticed this, but I am pretty much completely convinced that chapstick, despite all of its benefits, is a cold, calculated conspiracy.

Think about how many times your lips bother you. Mine don't really bother me all that often. Really the only time they get into trouble is when I spend the whole day in the sun - surfing, wakeboarding, etc. The next day my lips hurt real bad, so I put on lots of chapstick, and all of the sudden, it seems like things are worse. Chapstick must contain some addictive element, like nicotine or crack for your lips. The second you use a little bit, you suddenly have to have the chapstick with you at all times, ready to go in your pocket. Tubes and tubes of chapstick disappear, joining the mismatched socks and ballpoint pens in whatever mysterious corner of the universe to which they frequently flee. You're hooked.

For me it takes a week to get off of chapstick once I'm addicted. It usually happens when I lose all of the chapstick available in the house or apartment, and by that time my lips are just a little bit better.

If you've read all of this, it means that for some reason you like me, or think my writing is funny or maybe you are really bored. Whatever the case may be, you may be pleased to know that I will now be keeping the blog alive with much more substantive posts than this one. I want to have a place to put my thoughts on life, international development, school and whatever other things I encounter. Previously I have assumed that I only have exceptional experiences or make earth-shattering discoveries while I am abroad, but hopefully this blog will prove the opposite to be true.

Thanks for your friendship and support.

I'm back!!! Time for some pictures!

2009-06-26T21:50:00.000-05:00

Some words in Sena

2009-06-20T11:15:00.002-05:00

Here are some new words I've learned this week:

Machessa - These are the community classrooms Care for Life builds in each of the communities they work in. They are made out of wood, bamboo and grass. Instead of supplying materials for their construction, Care for Life asks for one nail, one stick of bamboo and a handful of grass from each family in the community. Care for Life is really different them some of the other Non-Governmental Organizations I have seen in action, and they've left me pretty impressed. In the Machessa many kinds of classes are taught; everything from child and adult literacy, family health and gardening to vocational training and business skills.

Mwacherua - This is how you say hello in the local dialect, Sena. This is a different dialect then the one I was learning in Maputo, so I am back at square one. I have heard this said a lot, and have said it a lot in the communities I have been visiting with Tobias. Tobias is the coordinator for Income Growth Training, and I've spent the week accompanying him, observing the classes that are taught, the consultations with small business owners and interviewing various entrepreneurs and students. Tobias reminds me of Will Smith. He is funny and kind and everybody loves him. He speaks mostly in Sena, especially during his classes. In reality only about 40% of Mozambicans speak Portuguese, although among the younger generation almost all speak it. Since the classes are normally taught to parents and adults many of whom who already have small businesses, the classes are taught in Sena. Sena doesn't have a lot of fancy business words though, so these words are in Portuguese, so it's not completely impossible for me to keep up.

Taverano? - This means "did everyone understand?"... at least that's what I think it means. Tobias says it frequently during his class and everyone responds by nodding their heads. This whole week of observation has been very beneficial because of the things I understood and learned. Care for Life has developed a program called the "Family Preservation Program," that ties in many different components of development and utilizes participatory teaching and work methods like the FAMA methodology I was trained in by Joan Dixon and Lynn Curtis. Luckily enough it was precisely them who also had a hand in the formation of the Family Preservation Program being used here. This means that I was able to understand very well what the teachers and facilitators were trying to do. We spent a lot of time analyzing how their classes function and making observations and plans to improve the classes. Also, I was able to train two more people on how to teach the Community Economics curriculum I developed with Joan, and it looks like they will be incorporating this manual into their curriculum. If any of this sounds interesting, or you are in a condition to assist Care for Life's in their efforts, please visit their website at www.careforlife.org The Mozambican government recently reneged on a promise to continue helping to fund Care for Life, so the need for contributions is extremely important.

Manja - This means "please applaud." Every time someone makes a good comment or does a report in class we give them a round warm of applause. I love how happy everyone is to see each other succeed. The things these communities are working on could seem simple to some, but in reality are critical steps towards building safety, health and prosperity for their families. It takes months to help all of the families understand the necessity of building a permanent latrine and seeing them do it, planting their own vegetable garden or contributing to the community "Bicycle Ambulance". If I had a chance to ask a manja for someone, it would be for the Mozambican staff workers here at Care for Life. There are about a dozen employees that run a program that operates in 8 communities that involves nearly 11,000 people. Tobias especially deserves manja because he has let me be his shadow the whole week. We have driven over 250 km this week on his motorbike. It has been thrilling and beautiful.

I have hardly any pictures of my time here in Beira, and I don't plan on taking any. My experiences this week have been two raw and intimate to be photographed. The chance to walk in as a white man into so many authentic, honest villages and spend only a few moments learning, speaking and understanding really can't be risked or spoiled by pulling out a strange black box that flashed in people's eyes. It would destroy the relationship Tobias and his colleagues have worked so long to forge. I am bringing back from Beira pages and pages of memories in my journal, and volumes of them in my mind. I am bringing back dozens of conversations and the trust of a few new friends.

I have been slowly letting myself detach a little. Monday I will be leaving Beira for Johannesburg to begin my long journey home. I spent about an hour on Wednesday night waiting in a little Indian Restaurant from which I could see the lights of an LDS chapel in the distance and a concrete wall that separated the road from the beach on the other side. I sat just thinking about how much I have been blessed. Not just the blessings of education, parents, plumbing and paved roads, but bigger things like the understanding that Heavenly Father knows and loves each of the people I have met or seen here. There really isn't an adequate way of expressing our gratitude to God. Sometimes we have to squeeze out every bit of gratitude within us to try and show Him how much we are really thankful, and then hope that He knows and understands we realize how much more we would really like to thank Him. He knows though. He always does.

Some pictures

2009-06-14T06:43:00.005-05:00

The most spectacular drive in the world.

2009-06-14T04:58:00.002-05:00

The most spectacular drive in the world.

Went to bed at one.
Woke up at 3:45.
Carried my duffel bag on my head. The bus was parked in a giant pool of mud,
of course the police had to see our papers right then and there,
in the middle of the mud hole.
I explained the papers and we boarded.
People everywhere.
Shouting.
Selling.
Utter darkness.
We leave on time, unexpectedly. The dawn didn't glimmer till well over an hour into the journey. The colors marched in slowly and then melted into the mist.
The sunrise was invisible. The mist steepened with white and then orange and purple.
The highway severed endless seas of mist with floating trees and distuant huts made boyant.

It thinned and the sun glimmered through, softening enough to stare directly.
Huts of all kinds.
Square with round roofs.
Round with round roofs.
Round with tin roofs.
Mud. Wood. Sticks. Reeds.

Savannah. Jungle. Verdant green. Endless gold.
Still marshes, vast plains, mammoth riverbeds.

Boom, crack.
Black rubber launching through the air.
Red, red earth. Down, digging.
Two cord snaps.
Heat bakes down.
Small cars gawk.
Buses smile thankfully (wasn't us)
Tow rope snaps. Snaps again.
Sweat, knives, the minutes pass.
The hour passes.
ITS OUT! Sighs and cheers!

Imundeiro Boabab Trees
(The ones God planted upside down)
The sunset bounces into oblivion.
Hungry, we ride on.

The Apex of an Adventure

2009-06-14T04:08:00.004-05:00

Last night I found myself standing on a street corner in Beira. I was exhausted, but so completely satisfied to be off the bus I couldn't help but smile for at least half an hour as I stood there, waiting. It was a seventeen hour bus ride, and even though the view from the windows was awe-inspiring the entire trek, I felt myself pushing my own limits - emotionally and physically.

We made it though. What a week! Since Swaziland, we spent two days at Skukuza camp in northeastern South Africa, in Kruger National Park. We went on two official Safaris in the big truck and everything, and spent all the other time we were there driving around in our own little Toyota Quantum van.

I hadn't planned on having an incredible safari experience, and to be honest, there have been so many other things to focus on, to stress about, to prepare for and to do that I hadn't given the experience much thought. I hand't anticipated it or dreamed about it, but then all of the sudden I was there, in a little rented van, stuck on the road as a herd of elephants trotted by. Having a lack of expectiations, the safari experience completely surpassed them and surprised me.

It is probably not worth spending too much time talking about it, becuase I hope the pictures will be able to speak for themselves. I might try after this post to put a few of them here on the blog, but we really shouldn't get any hopes up with this internet connection. So I will tell you about a few of them:

There is one of a group of seven lions - a lioness and her six cubs ripping a kudu to shreds. It was the luckiest thing that happened to us. She killed it about fifteen yards from the road, and in the night we could barely fit the beams of our searchlights through the brush to illuminate her and the kill and get some clean shots. Then her brother lion showed up. It seemed like he was skipping because h has a bad paw. It was any amateur photographers dream moment.

I guess I am not talking straight about the luckiness thing, because really the luckiest part was seeing the cheetah. There are less than 200 cheetahs in the whole park (compared to thousands and thousands of elephants, giraffe and lions) and we spoke to many people who've come dozens of times and never seen one.

------

So safari was fun, but the driving this week really pushed the limits. We spent 49 hours driving! Our BYU program expereince offically ended on Friday evening when we made it back to Maputo from Nelspruit, South Africa. We spent most of the night cleaning up and repacking in order to come up to Beira. Some of the other students returned home to the US, but Kristin, Dusty, Christina, Kailey and I all came up to Beira. We had to wake up at 3:45 to catch the bus, and when I tried to somehow carry all of my stuff, I had a great mozambican moment. It dawned on me that it would much easier to carry my duffle bag on my head. So I did. It worked great!

As far as the bus ride goes - it was cramped, long, beatiful, and they only stopped four times to let us use the bathroom. Our voyage was interrupted by a two hour flat tire/get completely stuck in the mud on the side of the road in the middle of the jungle moment.

As the sun was setting over yet another savannah, dotted with mighty boabab trees and scattered grass huts I scratched some bumpy letters into my journal. It is kind of raw, but I will share it with you in the next post.

I am now safely at the Care for Life facility in Beira, and had a happy nights sleep and a spectacular shower. We just got back from church - another fantastic african ward, perhaps the most impressive one I've seen. The reverance, the talks, the attitude and the faith are all astounding and admirable.

This week I will be observing the Family Preservation Program that Care for Life is currently executing in eight rural villages, and doing some teacher training if everything works out right! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I hope that all are well.

Oh and the last thing, I received a Swazi name from a wonderful woman in ... oh dear I don't remember the name of the city. I do remember the name though, it is Sihle (said see-hu-LEE) and it means; "where he goes, doors open" or "the good one who brings good fortune."

Cheers,

Sihle
This is a picture of One World University in Changalane

Swaziland... who knew?

2009-06-08T12:43:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone from the Ezulwini Valley of Swaziland, just outside of the capital city of Mbembe. Last time I wrote on here it was from Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique where we did our month long internship at the teachers training college. From there we headed south to Changalane, a very small and remote village in the southern tip of Mozambique near the border with Swaziland. About twenty minutes outside of the village is a brand-new, beautiful university called One World University. It is an outstanding facility just completed last year by a grant from the Government of Finland and the United States Department of Agriculture.

The students come from all over Mozambique and Angola and receive a three year training on either community development work or a degree suitable to teach and manage a teachers training college, like the one that we have been working at in Maputo. The students are normally in their late twenties and thirties. Kristin and I taught a 30 person group called the "Combatents alongside the poor." We had them exclusively for the entire week, which we spent teaching Economics, community development methodology and English. Imagine what the first scene of the animated Lion King looks like - then take away Pride Rock and the animals, and thats what this place looks like. It is literally the only large structure in the entire valley.

On monday we went into the village for National Kids Day and marched and sang with the children in their parade. In the village there were less than a dozen brick structures - the rest were all huts made of sticks and mud. The people were beautiful and kind. On wednesday afternoon we went on a hike that almost turned into disaster. We hiked up a nearby hill through waist high vegetation (some of the plants here have thorns the size of a four-inch long nail!) and made it to the top just before sunset. Then our guides insisted that the correct way to get back to the university was down the other side of the hill. We consented and ended up making it back to where we came from, but about two hours later and in the dark. It was a good thing we had a full moon to help us pick our way through the bush. I ate some crazy green fruit that was brown on the inside and tasted like Tamarind. The guy I was hiking with was from northern mozambique and had grown up hunting Impala, so I trusted his advice.

We had a great cultural evening at the university as well. We read poetry, sang and danced for them and then with them. They got a kick out of line dancing. The campus itself is spectacular. It was designed by the same architects who built the Sydney Opera House. The hallways are high and enormous - the entire school is open air - and the entire setup is extremelly functional yet impressive. The lady that runs the school is about 65 years old, from Denmark. She is vivacious, visionary and strong. I just about brought the house down when I danced the Brazilian Forro with her at the cultural night. The students were nearly rolling on the ground with laughter.

Friday my students presented the group discussion techniques I have been teaching (the ones I have been learning this past year at BYU with my wonderful professor Joan Dixson). They led fantastic group discussions on all kinds of local problems - everything from polygamy, fecalism, uncontrolled fires, malnutrition, people who ask for the sandals off of your feet, to how to have your entire family help in the fields instead of just some, alcoholism, potable water and in-house sanitation. The discussions are extremelly participant driven and allow an oustide like myself a fascinating view on life the way mozambicans see it. It facitilates a process in which they make observations, share their experiences and opinions and create solutions together. This methodoly is called FAMA, and can be learned more about by researching the organization ProLiteracy Worldwide, or by contacting myself, Joan Dixon or Lynn Curtis.

Saturday we administered exams at the university, said our goodbyes and headed back to Maputo. We spent the afternoon trying to buy more food, I arranged for the printing of the training manual that I had completed during the week at the University (also thanks to the enormous help of Joan Dixon and the many students and teachers at the university who helped me in the writing and editing process). It turned out to be a little more expensive than I had planned, but after all... I am in Africa right? It's not like you can just run down to kinkos. There was a big soccer game on (Mozambique lost to Tunisia) so it was hard enough just to find a place that was open. Saturday evening we took our final exam on Mozambican poetry, which wasn't exactly fun because we have been so busy working that I really haven't had much time to study. Professor Williams went to bed and left the exam on the kitchen table, so by the time I had repacked, studied and eaten it was already midnight. Most of us finished the exam around 2 in the morning, but it actually wasn't too difficult, so I was OK with it.

This morning we left Mozambique and traveled to Nelspruit, South Africa. We had a near catastrophe at the border (and weasled our way out of a $6,000 fine due to a bureaucratic snafu) and made it safely. We then rented vans and drove south into Swaziland. This leads me to the point I started with... I didn't know anything about Swaziland until entering into it as a country, which is rather embarassing. So here is thirty seconds of info on Swaziland:

It was never colonized. Not by the British, Dutch or Portuguese.
It is a kingdom... a legit one. The king chooses a new wife each year.
It is called the Switzerland of Africa - it is mountainous and beautiful. It seems like the vegetation of Ramona, mixed with Africa, on hills that look like Stonewall Peak in eastern San Diego. It is beautiful and just a little bit nippy.

Ok the lady at this internet place wants to go home. I am well and happy. Give a big hooray for Swaziland... they've really got a good thing going!!!!

Sunrises

2009-05-26T05:01:00.000-05:00

Dzi Shile familia!

This past week has been full of work and beautiful sunrises. We have been going to bed very early and getting up very early to help work in the Machambas and other fun things. Yesterday morning we watched the sun rise over the enormous cemetery just down the road. Due to Mozambique's turbulent history you could walk down a row of graves and see tombstones written in Chinese, Arabic, German, Portuguese and Changana all next to each other.

Saturday I taught my last economics class to the group of church members who had been participating. They all received certificates and were pretty happy about it. I was very happy with the group and the way the class went, and am excited to start teaching it again next week at One World University. I have been in communication with them and they will be allowing me to teach it every day, as well as in the evening to a local farmers group. One World University is a brand new facility recently opened by a joint project between the government of Mozambique, the Dutch organization ADPP and USAID. It is located in the countryside, about an hour and a half from here, in a town called Changalane. This week I am lecturing on the history of Cuba and then having our classes go through exercises to learn how to lead group discussions about self-sufficiency. We also had our poetry midterm last week which I did well on - it had been wonderful to better understand the culture and history of Mozambique through its literature.

Saturday we also had the opportunity to participate in the baptism of one of the students who has been attending the economic class we are teaching. His name is Jose and was baptised with his wife. We gave him a tie! He had already been investigating before the class, but I am happy we played a small part. Speaking of missionary work we also had the chance to go on splits with the elders here which was a real treat. It was fun teaching lessons, making contacts and even teaching one whole lesson in the dark to a family of 9 over the light of a small kerosene lamp.

This week will be our last week in Maputo, but will end with a bang. This saturday and sunday there will be special conference meetings because Elder Nelson has come here to visit. I will be playing the piano for the priesthood meeting and taking the group photos of Elder Nelson and the missionaries. That's because in our days off we have been hanging out with the senior couple missionaries and helping them with their many projects - everything from filming chicken farms, staking our garden plots for a ward garden, to helping assemble neonatal resuscitation kits. They invited us to help out when Elder Nelson is here.

So we are staying busy down here. I love the wonderful people I am getting to know and the opportunity to understand a rich and complex culture. Best of wishes to the northern hemisphere!

Mike

A Sermon Surprise

2009-05-22T02:59:00.002-05:00

So on Tuesday night we went to visit our friend Alice at her home in the suburbs and go to church with her. To make a very long story very short, the church was not only a pleasant mix between protestantism and local tradition, it was held in Changana instead of Portuguese, and when the pastor surprised me by asking me to give the sermon I gave it in Portuguese and then he translated it and pumped it up a notch into Changana. The whole congregation received us extremelly well ( it was just Dusty, Kristen and I) and treated us to a very nice dinner afterwards. The church was made of cinder block with a rough cement floor and about forty in attendance, 35 of which were older women. The pastor wanted us to heal everyone like he did by putting hand over their heads as they shook violently and screamed in their native tongues, which took some quick tactful explanations to get out of, but everything ended well. We sang "Juventude de Irael" (Hope of Israel) for them and then sang an indigenous song that Alice had taught us. There was lots of clapping and dancing and smiles. The dinner afterwards was fried chicken and potatoes... the REAL THING! I mean, this is where fried chicken actually came from and they do a pretty good job making it! Afterwards the pastor, his two wives and families accompianied us to the bus stop and presented us with sugar cane and homemade donuts.

The classes we teach at the EPF have been going well. Last week was economics, this week has been music. Next week will be about Cuba and community development. Wish me luck!

Other fun things:

We saw the sunrise in the Machamba fields again this morning.
We went to a marimba concert last saturday night and danced with everyone in front of the stage.
We held a fireside for the youth on saturday afternoon with poetry readings and then taught them dance - line dancing, salsa, forro and samba.

Xima Blisters

2009-05-16T01:44:00.003-05:00

So remember in middle school science class when your teacher told you that one of the most important evolutionary differents between mankind and other species is the use of opposable thumbs? Well, he or she was right. I am suffering the limited use of my right thumb due to a giant blister that is covering it and I've realized I never gave my thumb its due.

My thumb did fine yesterday morning - we had woken up before sunrise and taken out my still camera, Dusty's video camera and tripod out to the Machamba. The mist, the dew, the golds and oranges and purples were worth the weight. After an hour or so of shooting, we found Alice, whom we had worked with earlier in the week and began out documentary journey. We followed her from the beginning of her day as a couve seller, finding the right patch, negotating a price, harvesting the couve (kale), loading it onto her head, the long walk to the highway (where I intervened and carried it on my head once we had gotten enough footage of her), then loading it into the truck. At this point, Dusty and I had know idea where she was going, where she lived, where she would sell it...

So we jumped in the back of the truck and went. Just imagine, a beat up little pick up full of vegetables and two white boys squished against the tailgate, on the trans-african highway, without an idea of where they were headed. Turns out we went to Boane, a city about forty minutes west of Maputo in the dry, picturesque countryside. When we finished our bumpy, dusty journey we arrived at Alice's parents house, where we met the entire clan and neighborhood and then did some more filming and shooting. Alice was great to work with because she really enjoyed being in front of the camera(s) and would remain completely normal in her work while we filmed.

At Alice's parents house it was fun to meet the personalities - the drunk uncles, her blind but strong mother... and that's where I was:

1. Beaten at a stone game that was like mancala on steroids - the playing board had been scooped into the hardened sand, was four rows deep and eight feet long! The sad part is that the man who beat me (I didn't win a single rock) was completely drunk.

2. Taught to make xima... I think the translation is grits, but I think corn porridge describes it better. This is where the blister comes it. You have to rip the kernels out of the dried ears of corn by hand, and them pound and grind them in giant metate-looking wood mortars. It was great but my thumb took the heat.

Oh man, I wish I had more time to tell you more. There was watermelon whiskey and watching her sell, catching the bus and starting a fire, dividing up land for gardens at the church and crazy adventures on the highway.

Next time...

What's going on.

2009-05-13T09:48:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I was in such a rush I didn't have much time to really explain what is going on down here. I had just finished that wonderful morning in the Machamba and really wanted to write it all out before it lost its vividness in my memory. Here is some better info on everything else that is going on.

We have finally had success in figuring out how we can help the EPF (Escola para os Professores do Futuro), and them figuring out how they can let us help. First of all, they don't exactly needs tons of help, and the things they need help with, it seems they don't really know it. Add this to the fact that there are very few people who have a good idea of what they are doing within the organization and you get about a week and a half of meetings to try and get anything done. But now that we have gotten through out week and a hallf of meetings and planning, Dusty and I are now teaching classes each afternoon. This week we will be teaching the basics of economics and monetary theory, next week we will teach about the construction of musical instruments and the week after we will teach about, and I kid you not here --- "The power of community: lessons of community development that can be learned from Cuba." Needless to say, we had to pick from a specific list of courses to teach. Long story, but his is how it ended.

On the days that we don't teach (Wednesdays and Fridays) we are helping Elder and Sister Cox who are on a humanitarian mission working with local church members on gardening and chicken cultivation projects. So we spent the morning picking beans, pulling weeds and then meeting with members and counting eggs. Dusty is a film student, so he is helping to document many things here - the chicken project being one of them. Other students (there are nine of us in all) are working on various projects. Three are working with the Hope Center, doing AIDS testing and prevention/awareness. Others teach English at the high school, and others do tutoring and teach culture classes at a Polytechnic school. All of these schools and the Health Center compose a giant campus called ADPP which is cosponsored by the Mozambican Government and a Dutch organization that helps with construction and training teachers.

We eat our meals at the cafeteria that serves the teachers and administrators. The food is WONDERFUL. Mozambique is an interesting mix of cultures - Indigenous African, Colonial Portuguese, Indian (the Portuguese brought them from Goa), Chinese (the Portuguese brought them from Macau), Middle Eastern (Muslim colonizers arrived here even before the Portuguese and have lived peacefully for nearly 800 years), with a mix of British and Dutch South African. The cuisine seems to reflect all of that - here is a brief list of things I have eaten and enjoyed:

"Stolen Lamb" in Lemon-Lime Sauce with French Fries
Shrimp, Kale and Onion marinated in Coconut with Rice
Chicken in Peanut Sauce
Crab Penne Pasta
Goat Curry
Liver with Rice and Green Beans
Beef chunks with Xima (Grits)
Fresh fish with Lentil Curry
Cow Foot (this one was a little fatty)
Ground Beef, Eggplant and Rice

I have also really enjoyed getting to know Mozambican literature and learning phrases in the local language Changana. Las night we met with perhaps the most prominent Mozambican writer Mia Couto. He was a true gentleman - genteel, wise and entertaining. I wanted to put a couple of his poems up on here today, but don't have my book with me. I'll make sure to include them sometime though.

Church Sunday was also fantastic. We went to a different branch - much poorer and remote but the same smiles, the same music and very impressive youth and sermons. I hope all of you are well wherever you may be.

Hambanine

Mike

Algumas Fotos

2009-05-13T07:49:00.005-05:00

The beautiful city of Maputo - this is a side view of the harbor.

Kristen and Kailey enjoying their culture class to teach a little fun - this is the "circle of trust" which worked quite well with this group.

This is Kristen, Dusty, Kailey and I in the back of a little pickup truck driving into downtown. The outdoor markets are called Bazaares and have everything from carved elephants and piles of peanuts to used shoes and dyed kapulanas (colorful sheets of fabric that actually come from India - they are the swiss army knife of a woman's wardrobe here - you see them worn as jackets, skirts, headdresses, scarves, baby-swaddlers, couve carriers... you name it!).

Indian Ocean - Macaneta Beach. We traveled out here on our first weekend because May 1st was a holiday. The ride there took about two hours - crossing the city, the countryside, a river by ferry, getting stuck in the mud, then crossing a savannah section before pulling up literally on to the sand in our great VW van. These pictures are small - but click on them and they get really big!

This picture is of the whole group - Me, Kristen (the group facilitator), Helena (our resident Brazilian), Christina (our comic relief), Kailey (the youngest of the group - her father is portuguese), John (a future doctor), Jowey (enjoys controversial discussions), Kenneth (more comic relief) and Dusty (my roommate and master of film and comedy), and Dr. Williams (poet extroardinaire).

At the beach I taught everyone how to bodysurf even though the waves were extremelly small. We spent most of out time running down the beach catching crabs. The beach was about a two-hundred yard spit of sand that divided the ocean from a giant lagoon, which we didn't swim in (all those stories about Crocodiles.... yeah.)

This is the Economics Class that Dusty and I are teaching at the EPF (The School of Future Professors). We teach in the afternoons, which leaves the mornings free to work in the Machamba. In the evenings we have out own Portuguese Literature class with the professor who is guiding our study abroad/internship, Dr. Frederick G. Williams.This is me, Ken, Dusty and John in front of the old train station. The cupola roof was designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel tower fame. We got in to trouble for the silly nature of this photograph. I guess some could find it's humor an offense to the respect such a monument deserves. Please know this was not my intention. I just felt like doing a headstand!

Machamba

2009-05-12T04:35:00.001-05:00

I woke up to rooster crowing around 6:00 and tried to ignore the squeaky footsteps in the hall until 6:30. After peeling off the mosquito net and getting dressed in my favorite Brazilian soccer uniform I joined Dusty, Kailey and Kristen outside. We started the long walk down to the fields that lie behind our small neighborhood, after the large beer factory. This time we found a new trail behind that led along the narrow paths, the dew-covered corn stalks and the patchwork fields. It seemed to disappear into the thick African morning mist. Occasionally the kapulana-covered legs would arise and show their heads of wrinkled dark skin. All of the old ladies would arise and greet us, and when we greeted them back in Changana, the indigenous language, rather than in Portuguese, they giggled with delight and wonder.

We slowly found our way back to the fields behind the lake, where we worked last week with Dona Atalia, but today she wasn't there. We found another group of women cutting couve (kale) and as I approached them, carefully choosing my steps along the muddy furrow I said: "Dzi Shile Mama. Nidjula a cafuna oitzema m'couvo?" (Good morning mother (term of respect for older woman), Can I help you cut the kale?). She handed over her large knife and I went to work. The others saw and came over to join. We cut the whole rectangular section of the garden and began stacking it into the green burlap sack, stalks towards the outside, leaves towards the center, smallest on bottom, largest on top.

The people walking by on the path made their usual comments. "What are these white people doing here?", "Hey Mama, who are these people helping you?" "Good morning." they''d said in Changana, and when we responded they'd wonder aloud with amazement. After stacking the couve about hip-high, the packing and squeezing began. We placed another burlap back over the top of the stack and pressed downward with just enough force to compact the leaves without completely smashing them. Then we'd use the straps sown into the corners to cinch the bags together, twisting the lines and then tying them. Then two or three people come together and lift the bag up, and someone ducks under and then extends upwards, with the weight of the bag squarely on their head.

Dusty took the first bag on his head and walked to the highway to our north - about a ten minute jaunt He returned before we had finished packing the next two bags that belonged to Dona Alicia. The first of Alicia's bags went atop Kristen's head. The second, larger bag went on top of Kailey's. I had already had my first turn carrying the bag last week. The mud was thick and made balancing and walking treacherous. Africans have mastered a different walk - it comes purely from the hips and the torso and head remain motionless, simply sailing forward regardless of the load atop them. Alicia had told us it was a long walk, and had pointed south. All I could see were the fields and streams, occasionally interrupted by coconut trees melting into the mist. Nestled on the sides of this shallow valley, the city began. First homes hacked out of reeds, balanced on the mud, praying that the floods won't come, then the cinder block houses staking their claim in the sand, their tin roofs reflecting the sun, then roads and trees, bigger houses, bars and bakeries. Behind them peeked the large apartment buildings and granaries.

After a few minutes the couve bag had leaped from Kailey's head to Dona Alicia's and then on to mine, like an over-sized toad that refused to balance. You have to move the weight a little further back than you'd expect in order to see the road. The bag begins to sag and drip with your own sweat. The weight at first only pressed upon my skull, but slowly spread to my neck, trapezoids, shoulders and then torso. After nearly a half an hour, I wondered if the road would ever come. I couldn't see the people's faces anymore; I could just feel the sweat and the dirt dripping down, my sandaled feet spitting out dust and wondering where the road would appear. My body began to tremble and shake. I felt like the slaves from the poems I've been reading, but my burden was fake and ingenuine. I called out still "Dzi Shile Mama"and "Dzi Shile Papa" to each person that passed, and lied when Kristen asked me if I was OK or if I needed to switch with someone. My pride wouldn't allow me.

At last came the road, the crossover stairs and the trucks. The mob of women and colors and peanuts and sweat. Setting the bag down my head swirled with exhaustion and it seemed my balance had been sapped with my energy... but I had made it. Alicia looked at me and said in Changana and then in Portuguese, her wry smile winking through ivory teeth,

"You have the strength."

2009-05-07T12:46:00.001-05:00

I am in hog heaven. I spent the morning in the machamba fields, working with some old women. Carrying an eighty pound bag of couve on my head to the crowd of seventy African women rolling on the ground with laughter was one of the best moments of my life. I am well and loving everything.

I'll write more later.

Goat Curry Anyone?

2009-05-04T10:33:00.001-05:00

It has been a wonderful last couple of days here in Maputo, I'm gonna give you the quick play-by-play:

Econ Classes - 25 members came to my class on Saturday. It went well - it started out slow as it took a little while to get everyone out of sunday school mode, but once everyone started opening up and participating we had a good discussion on how to determine between needs and wants, how to prioritize our purchases and making decisions about how to value our time. The senior missionary couple that observed the class also liked it.

Church - We attended a wonderful branch in Maputo, with the Mission President, two missionary couples and all of us present. The testimonies were absolutely stupendous. There are so many sharp, capable members it was really exciting to see, and very moving to hear of their experiences of finding the church. The elders are very busy and had 13 investigators at the meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed the lessons and spent the last hour in primary and helped do crowd control on the back lawn. The kids were great.

Food - You guys all know how much I like exotic food, so I am pretty much in heaven. In the past couple days i've eaten goat curry, squid kabobs, tripe stew and a spinach-shrimp-coconut dish that was my favorite. I'm on cloud nine.

Macaneta - Friday was Dia do Trabalhador (Labor Day), so we took the day off from teaching and headed up the coast to Macaneta. After a crazy ferry ride, getting stuck and unstuck out of the most intense mudholes I've ever driven through and then a forty minute offroad adventure through the savannah, we came to a beautiful strand of sand between a freshwater lagoon and the indian ocean. We spent the afternoon catching crabs and playing in the shorebreak.

Work - we started teaching/coordinating/helping today at ADPP, the school complex we spend our days at. It has been some crazy bureacratic haranguing, just to figure out what we can do to help, but I think we got through it today. Most of the other interns have already started their work in earnest, we (my friend Dusty and I) just happen to be at the school that has the most difficult time coordinating their schedules.

The bottom line is, we are having a wonderful time. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers!

P.S. - Feel free to leave your comments and questions here on the blog. I can actually read and respond to them now (not like when I was on a mission)!!

Teachers of the Future!

2009-04-30T09:41:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, It is a nice and warm afternoon here in Maputo. We just got back from another full day at the schools at which we will be teaching. Dusty and I are teaching at the "Teachers of the Future" teacher training college, which is the one I really hoped would work out. It looks like we will be able to teach them how to use the economics curriculum we've developed. Then, they can take the materials with them as they return to their villages and rural areas of mozambique. The school is part of a government program to send schoolteachers to these areas. We will see how well things work out with the details. We spent most of today meeting and negociating details. It is kind of difficult working with a three-tiered bureacracy. Last night Kristen and I made dinner for everyone - macarronada! (Pasta with sausage). It was a hit, and we made the tomato sauce from scratch, and it was shockingly good. Maybe that was because everyone was so hungry. At night our professor teaches poetry classes which have been good, but normally someone always falls asleep because it is such a long, fun, hot day. Last night it was me that was trying really hard not to nod off.

Haha the internet just broke here and I fixed it - nothing like restarting the router... fixes just about everything. So yeah... AFRICA!!!! It is pretty fun. My favorite part is riding everywhere in Chapas, which are these old little vans that everyone uses for transportation. It is the size of a regular old vw van, but fits between 20 and 26 people, which is pretty insane. Roads are also crazy, seeing as we drive on the left-hand side of the road and dodge oncoming traffic and pedestrians through the maze of potholes. Other great news was the appearance of the plumber this morning, who made our bathroom sink stop leaking which allowed me to remove the sea that had taken up residence between the door and the toilet. Unfortunately he wasn't able to figure out how to unstop the laundry drain or figure out how to set up our water tank so we have water after 8am in the morning. Oh well, maybe next time. Tomorrow is a holiday, so looks like we are trying to go to the beach.

In other news, I just got my grades from last semester and I did better than i expected. I got an A in my Econ 378 class, which I consider to be one of the grades I am most proud of in my college career. Hope all of you are well.

Made it!

2009-04-28T08:55:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone,

Well you can all breathe a sigh of relief, at least Mom can anyways, because I have arrived safely and soundly in Mozambique. The journey was incredible, especially flying on Emirates Airlines. To put it briefly - did I ever think I'd see smoked salmon and shrimp cocktails, widescreen personal tvs and an LED-light ceiling that mimicks the sky outside like hogwarts in an airplane cabin?... in coach??!!!! Nope, but that is all exactly what happened.

I met up with the rest of the students and our professor in Johannesburg. It was nice to see some familiar faces. It was funny because almost everyone went a different route - some through Atlanta, Chicago, London, Paris and even Senegal. We came over to Moambique on the afternoon flight and landed on the runway. We scooted off the runway about twenty yards and then the plane just parked and opened up all the doors, rear and front and everyone jumped out in less than thirty seconds. It was pretty efficient. The airport reminded me of the airport near Tikal in Guatemala, but about half the size. We waited for almost an hour to change our money into meticais because they had run out of money. Yes... they ran out of local currency at the airport!

We then made it to our housing arragements. We are staying in a nice neighborhood for Mozambican standards. Most of the members of the group who served in nicer areas in Brazil or Portugal were a little shell-shocked, but I feel right at home. We live in some apartment buildings, the boys a couple of blocks from the girls. I am teaching my fellow roomates how to live without running water (it comes in the morning for an hour or two - you just have to make sure you get as much as you can and then plan how to use the rest of the day). We have to buy our own food and cook it too, which is fun because I have a bit of experience of living from the food of a three-shelf market.

I am so happy to be here. We weren't able to make it into the school where we will be working today - we spent the day chasing after passport copies at the embassy and facilitating the guy that took six or seven hours to put in hooks for our mosquito netting, but now all is done. We have our first mozambican poetry class tonight. Our professor, Dr. Williams is renowned among Mozambican poets and has done most of their translation into english. (He published the book we are using.) He has many great connections with people of the literary community here, and we'll be meeting some of the prominent poets.

I feel like I am back on my mission, but with much less responsibility and am thrilled that I get to walk around in shorts and my new mozambican sandals and shades. We can chat with whomever we please without feeling guilty for it, and can even watch all the soccer on tv that we can stand! Thanks for your prayers. I feel safe and happy.

Mike

2009-04-28T08:53:00.001-05:00

London II

2009-04-26T06:07:00.004-05:00

Just another quick update. This morning I woke up super early and went and took pictures of Westminster Abbey and Parliament as the sun came up, then I walked over to the London Eye and the Jubilee Bridge. Then I took the tube to St. Paul's where I attended Communion. There were extremelly few people there because today is also the London Marathon, so I was able to sit in upper court area, where the Archbishops sit when there are important meetings. It was a very nice service and I talked for a while with the Bishop afterwards. That was at 8:00 and got over by 9:00, which left me enough time to walk across the Millennium Bridge and over to the London Bridge where I caught the Tube down to Penton Street where I attended the Penton Ward's sacrament meeting. I sat next to a very nice black lady from Barbados and read the words to the music aloud to her because I perceived she couldn't read them. It turned out it was her first time at church and so I took her up to the missionaries afterwards. They were pretty happy! Now I just came and checked out of the hostel and am headed up for one last look at Hyde Park before I scoot on back to Heathrow. London was AWESOME!
Hope you are all happy and well.

London!

2009-04-25T16:12:00.005-05:00

It had to be Oscar Wilde - but I don't think he's actually buried here!

St. Paul's Cathedral and the Thames

Houses of Parliament, Big Ben

The flight was great - the weather has been perfect. What a day! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings... like Dubai!

Where is Mozambique?

2009-04-20T01:17:00.002-05:00

Some have been asking, others have just been wondering:

They say...

2009-04-20T01:13:00.002-05:00

They say that once you see the sun set in africa, your life will never be the same.

Out with the old, on with the new

2009-03-30T22:14:00.002-05:00

This post marks the break between mission posts and... the rest of my life posts. The blog hasn't been active for a while, but now it will be updated regularly for those of you who would like to keep in touch with me while I'm in Mozambique.

I'm Home!

2008-07-23T11:29:00.001-05:00

Well I have been home for a couple of weeks, but am just now getting around to update myself in the internet world. California is beautiful, the US is overwhelming, but I am getting used to it. I will be in San Diego until the end of august, then will return to the happy bubble land (provo).

I am hanging up my boots

2008-06-25T13:06:00.001-05:00

Well, believe it or not. Its almost over. Here in my area its over. Its ´p-day and I am here in the lan-house just before i get my bus to Maceió. The past couple of days have been wild, because we are in the middle of the biggest holiday of the year, São João (Saint John). Lots of fireworks, drinking, music, shows, and even a stampede of horses that came through town last night, complete with a live show on top of a semi truck that accompianed the cavalry.

We had the special baptism of Maria Hilda, the Branch Presidents elderly sister of 68 years. It was the president who baptized her, and she cried and it was a very special family experience. Sunday, Pres. Laudison surprised me and called on me to speak a little and bear my testimony. I love the people here. Also, Gilson went to church in shirt and tie (my shirt, my tie, my pants and my shoes), but it was awesome because he received the priesthood, and I had the privelage of ordaining him. Hielton also received the aaronic priesthood and went to church with his new styling blue tie.

It was a very happy goodbye. As we taught Gilson and Helena for the last time, they surprised by bearing their testimonies and describing the growth of their faith through the experience of meeting and joining the church. It was one of the most special moments of my mission.

The truth is, that I love this place. I love this people and the food and the tradition and the way they do things. The truth is that my mission wasn't all roses and baptisms and smiles. There are quite a few things I didn't write about; there were lots of moment of frustration, disapointment, lots of sweat and a little bit of hunger and thirst, but when we suffer we have an opportunity to truly come to know Jesus Christ. The best way to experience all this is to go on a mission. These things each of you can experience on your own (although I don't recommend trying dengue, it wasn't fun).

I know that Jesus Christ is the Salvador of you and I and of all mankind. That even though many believe in Him, those who love Him actively work in repenting and modifying their lives to follow Him. I have a testimony, as a result of the repeated feelings and impressions that the Holy Spirit has blessed me with, that the Book of Mormon is true, and is a book inspired, as is the Bible to assist us in our quest to understand God and return to His presence. I know that the best way to have a happy family and a peaceful life is to live in obedience to Heavenly Father´s wise commandments. He speaks to us today as He always has spoken. He has called prophets in our days, including Joseph Smith, Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson. These truths have also been confirmed by repeated experiences and impressions and the trial of my faith. I hope each of you may ponder these ideas and truths, that you may know for yourself that they are true. Thank you for all that have written and prayed and worried and read. This is my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

2 Years

2008-06-23T20:12:00.001-05:00

You know its been 2 years as a missionary in Brazil when:

Your first thought when you see a family walking together down the street is, “Hmm do you think they are legally married?”

You can’t remember the last day you didn’t kill at least 15 mosquitos.

It takes almost ten minutes to switch from thinking in Portuguese to English on pday.

When someone asks “do you need anything” you make a rundown through the mental list: Books of Mormon, Lesson Booklets, Pass-along cards, Baptismal forms….. Nope we are just fine.

You complain when lunch is served without beans.

Your last memories of the US include:
Kelly Clarkson being the most popular singer.
The I-15 being 2 lanes, and the Ted Williams Intersection being a mess.
The newest thing being the band ‘black-eyed peas’
Me being the only person who knew who Barak Obama was.
Hot tv shows being Lost and 24.

Your greatest dream is now to see the Brazilian National Soccer Team in person.

Your nightly dreams consist of you knocking doors and then surfing, but always with your companion at your side.

You respond to the following: “Elder”, “Mormon” and “Galego” (white guy)!

You don’t manage to let pass 30 seconds in a conversation without inviting the person to church.

You hand instinctively points to your nametag when you say your name and the name of the church.

You don’t custom to enter into any house if the person hasn’t said they will go to church first.

You laugh when you see the little signs in the chapels that say “throw the toilet paper in the toilet” because its such a strange, silly idea.

When you crave something, either its guava paste (goiabada) or cured meat (charque).

You only eat Melancia if its with Farinha. (Watermelon with grated manioc flour).The whitest part of your body is your feet. People gasp when you walk barefoot to the baptismal font.

Well I hope this list gave you guys a little laugh. It has been a wonderfully satisfying last two weeks. Sorry that I didn’t get a message out last week. We have had some marvelous experiences, seeing the fruits of a lot of hard work.

Marriage of Gilson and Helena. Finally the judge got everything together, Gilson dressed up in
Elder Marinho´s cream colored suit, that went perfectly with Helena´s dress. The wedding was beautiful, short, but great. Even better was the lunch that Gilson’s Aunt made for us afterwards.

The day also happened to be Elder Marinho´s birthday, and we did a surprise party for him that night. We got him good, and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Baptism of Gilson and Helena, Hielton and Taciele. The baptism on Saturday was wonderful. We had a lot of support from members, and the service was reverant and spiritual. I had the honor of baptizing Gilson, who is taller than I am, which was the first time I had baptized someone tall. It went well because the baptismal font here is enormous. Hielton, a young man of 13 years, was extremely happy, and even though he had to work the whole night, helping his mom sell barbecued meat at the city party, he went to church the next morning without sleeping to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

Taciele, a little lady of 11 years, is neighbor to the branch president, and came all by herself 6 times to be able to be baptized. Her family unfortunately is not very organized or righteous, and they even dropped out last minute and went to a soccer game instead of the baptism of their daughter. She was crying when she got to the church, but she was firm in her resolve to be baptized, and thanks to the expert mothering of the primary president, who is probably the best example that she has to follow. She has a physical disability, but is extremely intelligent, and walks to another neighbor families house to read the scriptures with them.

We had our last zone conference, in which I bore my going-away testimony. It was a wonderful experience. Afterwards President and Sister Muir bore their going-away testimonies too, and it was a very spiritual moment. I love them so much, and the great examples they have been for me.

In my testimony I spoke about the things that had changed about me in the two years of serving as a missionary. I spoke about the love I feel for talking to people in the street, knocking doors and teaching. I said that I feel like I came a boy and I will return a man. I appreciated a few younger missionaries who thanked me for my testimony and for the trainings I had given. This meant a lot to me. I also enjoyed the training of the new assistant, who I had previously lived with and of whom I had been district leader about a year ago, Elder Miller.

I love Jesus Christ and am so grateful for the opportunity to have served Him here, and for the last week I have now to preach the gospel here in Itaporanga. Thanks for your prayers and support. The gospel is true and if we humbly pray and do our best to repent, Heavenly Father will help us to do the rest. Have a great week.

Elder Monroe

Ninja Rats 0, Elders 5

2008-06-04T17:42:00.000-05:00

In the battle between us and the ninja rats, we finally prevailed. We bought a strong poison that knocked them flat. They were ninja because they went up and down the walls, in and out of the cupboards – they were dirtying everything. One night last week I washed all the pans and put them on top of the stove. I woke up to see that the rats had climbed up and entered in each pan and pooped and peed in every single one. I lost it. We bought poison. The rats are gone. 5 of them died before even making it to the door. (they were squeezing under the door to enter in!)

Sorry for such an appetizing description of our life, but we were really, really happy to kill the rats. Other good news, I wasn’t transferred, so that means I will get to spend the last 3 weeks here in paradise, with the great group we are teaching, and hopefully with some baptisms too.

The King of Cake was a smashing success. We had about 80 people at the activity, which was a good figure considering that last week we only had 30 at church (including member AND investigators). The activity helped, everyone got more excited and made more friendships, and we had 52 at church this past Sunday, with 14 investigators. It looks like that light is finally appearing at the end of the tunnel for Gilson and Helena – the lady at the court office said there marriage may be finished next week!

In other news, I got the flu Sunday-Monday-Tuesday, which wasn’t all that fun, but I’m all better now. It was nice to feel loved – various members and investigators came to visit us, and Helena made soup. Even the branch president stopped by to see how I was doing. But I am feeling much better now, and am excited to get back to work.

Thanks for your letters and prayers. I had asked my Mom to send some pictures of the family and everything, but I think she mixed things up because I don’t know any of these people from the pictures. If anyone knows what happened to my family, and who are these giant people, please let me know. (ok, honestly, I recognize my dad and the dog – choco, the only two who haven’t completely changed).

Thanks, the gospel is true. Time to go!

Elder Monroe

Faith is knowing that what will happen to us, will be good.

2008-05-29T21:43:00.000-05:00

Hello Everybody,

The title of the email today is from the dvd, Finding Faith in Christ, which is I believe the greatest church film ever produced.

Well this past week has been lots more rain, and lots more work. The unfortunate news is that the people that were preparing to be baptized… need a little bit more faith. That’s always a sad thing to go through, and seeing the disappointment of my companion (first time that this happens for him), it was an exercise in faith and trust. Generally when someone stalls in their progress, the problem is easy to discover – people who are saying terrible things, problems with sins and commandments, problems with family, etc. What’s most frustrating is when someone is doing everything just right, has a testimony, is asking the right questions and really learning, but doesn’t quite have enough faith to make the step of making the baptismal commitment.

Faith is the opposite of fear. When we have fear, we are not exerting our faith. When we don’t forgive ourselves, we are trusting more in our own feelings than the pardoning power of the Atonement. When we want to work on our own timetable and at our own pace instead of hearkening to the counsel of the Lord and His servants, we are in a small but rebellious way denying the power of the Holy Ghost and refusing to really trust and have faith.

But the gospel plan is perfect. We do not force anyone. We do not make choices for others. We must create an environment in which people learn the gospel, feel the spirit and are invited to follow it. When they choose not to follow, its not our fault. Sometimes we end up feeling how God feels – maybe just a little disappointed that the majority of His children have little faith and little trust.

These are the things that I have been meditating and teaching my young companion. Its befuddling to have 19 wonderful investigators at church and not a single one that desires to be baptized, but that is our reality. We are continuing to be diligent; we are exhorting all to come unto Christ, so we should really feel happy and content with our efforts.

I love being a missionary, and I love serving here in Itaporanga. Today will be the special activity … the KING OF CAKE… (again), Shhhh don’t tell the people here, because they don’t know that I have already done this activity a bunch of times. Everyone is excited. It was just what the branch needed. We had a tough Sunday – we had about half the number of people in church that we normally do (members and investigators)… and of course it had to be this Sunday that the President of the District came to visit with his wife. Oh well.

Please continue to pray for Iriene. She needs more faith. Her whole family is following her. If she can muster up a little more faith, she will open the doors for her siblings and cousins to follow. They are so ready! The marriage of Gilson and Helena is stalled in the courts. I hope it passes someday. Antonio and Raquel work in a fishing village down the river, and they went fishing this past Sunday instead of going to church. Changing a lifetime of cultural tradition might take a little more than just a week, but progress is being made. If they go to the village again, I just might hunt them down and go to the village myself to teach them.

Oh and a happy happy birthday for my mom, who turned one year younger again. Thank you Mom! Happy Birthday!

Happy in the jungle,

Elder Monroe

P.S. things I will miss here:

Listening to the catholic church bells and watching the giant snails roll by while I wash my clothes by hand. (Ok I am not going to miss the washing clothes by hand part!)

Listening to the car with a giant boom box that passes by each day announcing who died and inviting everyone to the burial.

Waiting on the side of the highway for a bus or a car.

Rain drops (and busses) are falling on my head!

2008-05-22T21:44:00.001-05:00

Well the rainy season is here at last. Monday and Tuesday we had to quite a bit of traveling, and it was a lot of rain and a lot of delays, and i was doing division with the elders in Lagarto (another city about an hour from here), and it rained there too and i forgot my umbrella... it wasn't all that fun. But i am glad its over. Now I am back in my area and with my companion.

Yesterday in the bus, the driver was a little sleepy it seems and didn't see the GIANT speed bump in the middle of the highway. We hit it at full speed and it rocketed everyone into the air. I made severe contact with the roof of the bus, and hit my head, but i am just fine. It reminded me of that one time i dove into the SHALLOW END of the pool without my hands infront. When everyone landed in their seats, instead of asking for an apology, the bus driver and his two buddies started arguing with us and saying that it wasn't their fault. My companion just about bit his head off, but i calmed him down and just sat back down and closed my eyes in order to not say anything.

That's the whole story. I'm just fine and so is my comp.

In other news, sunday was a pretty cool day at church. It was the best sunday of my mission - we had 19 investigators at church which was pretty awesome. We have so many good people we are teaching, the only difficulty is that things are going slow with baptisms. We are having patience and continuing working hard. Please pray for these people, especially Iriene. She has a testimony, has been to church 8 times, is keeping the commandments and commitments, i just hope Heavenly Father can bless her with more faith to make the step of baptism - as soon as she makes this decision, i am sure her whole family will have the courage to follow.

José Rochinho got sick and hasn't made much progress with smoking, but Heavenly Father put another special family in our path this week that really wants to progress. They are Antonio, Raquel and their three children Elionai, Eliolenai and Adonai (good luck pronouncing these names!). They are very excited to learn, have a lot of questions (they were of another faith, the baptist church), but are really interested in understanding what we teach. Gilson and Helena are great - they made us dinner last friday which was awful nice of them.

My companion is coming along well, and is teaching very well, and i am proud of him. Yesterday afternoon I was waiting for him with Elder Vasconcelos (my friendly zone leader, who is about as tall as my nametag). We heard that there was an accident on the highway that involved the little busses we use, and i got super worried. When he and elder bonin finally arrived in Lagarto, i got so happy. Afterwards i thought to myself, hmmm this is probably how my mom feels. Don't worry Mom! But now i know a little better how you feel.

I love being a missionary. I feel like I finally know how to be a good missionary. I feel like I am finally seeing serious results. I wish I had another year in the field... ok no i don't, but its really good to feel like i know what to do, and that i am doing my best. Thanks for your great letters, emails, prayers and support. I know that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ will help us to be balanced, happy, sincere individuals. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. Please pray for Iriene.

Thanks,

Elder Monroe

P.S. ( i am gonna always send this part now) Things I will miss about Brazil, number 1: Watching the monkeys play in the banana trees in our backyard while I eat macaxeira cake and guava for breakfast.

Just another day in paradise!

2008-05-14T21:24:00.000-05:00

Well its been a while that i haven’t gotten a decent email out. The biggest news is that i am happy as a clam. I feel like i am living in a dream world, a missionary´s paradise. Everything seems to have so much taste and color and enjoyment. I love the wonderful people here that we are teaching and working with. I love the taste of the food we eat every day, our crazy adventures and of course the best part, feeling the spirit as we teach and preach.

First the preaching and teaching:

We are teaching a wonderful family, Gilson, Helena and Wallisson. Gilson and Helena entered their papers into the justice system last week for their wedding, after a lot of struggle with the paper-pushers just to get the papers started. But now things with the law are rolling and we are just waiting the 3 or 4 weeks that it takes for the secretary lady to print out a sheet and talk to the judge and mark a date. Life must be pretty rough for government employees.

But Gilson and Helena are that dream family that you always imagine teaching – intelligent, excited, willing to learn and eager to change. They love church, they pay attention and ask questions, they have sincere questions and are really searching to find answers. They love the missionaries and they ask us how we are doing when we arrive at their house – simple things that show that they really care. Gilson is searching for his testimony, but is on track. Helena is doing great and has had various spiritual experiences confirming her testimony.

Another great family we are teaching is the family of Iriene. She is 21 years old and is being taught with her mother and 5 brothers and sisters, and a couple cousins. She has already frequented church meetings last year in Aracaju, but now is feeling more prepared and is excited to be baptized next week. The other members of the family are coming along, but a little more slowly. The brother and sisters have gone to church once or twice, and are beginning their conversion processes.

José Rochinho is a great little old man, who lives on a peaceful little farm outside of town. He loved his first visit to church last Sunday, and even though he has smoked 57 years of his life, he comitted yesterday to quit. Please pray for him.

There are dozens of other great folks who are progressing, the majority of whom have gone to church for the first time and we are beginning their teaching processes, and whom have great futures. We are very excited to have a great big teaching group.

Second – being a trainer and district leader:

I love my companion Elder Marinho from São Paulo. He is a convert of 6 years along with his mother, brothers and sisters. He worked for four years as a shoe salesman supporting his mother and preparing for his mission. He is eager to learn, and is enjoying working hard. His progress is coming along great.

My district is fantastic – good missionaries who are led by seasoned senior companions who have a good focus and are efficient, experienced teachers. We have a trio of sisters led by Sister Michelle, from Rio de Janeiro. She is working well with Sister Farias and Sister Pinheiro, who are from Belém, Pará. The other companionship is Elder Leonard from Washington State and his companion Elder Vasque from São Paulo.

Third, everything being tasty:

I am not quite sure why everything is so delicious here. Maybe its because the older members are mostly retired folks who live on farms and enjoy treating us, or the new converts who give simple meals but make them with a lot of love. It also helps that we are in a paradise – jungle farms, ocean bays, tidal swamps and green pastureland. The following is a list of the delicious things i have been eating recently. Ocean crab, river crab, shrimp, clams, mussells, fish, herb tea, fried pork, every kind of bean, tropical fruits you couldn’t even imagine.

Just to give an idea, yesterday we woke up and made a banana-apple smoothie with eggs and fresh french bread. At lunch was rice, beans and beef with mandioc flour... my favorite! Dessert was an enormous jaca (the giant yellow-spined watermelon full of bubble-gum wrapped seeds that you have to swallow without chewing). While we were knocking doors, or rather walking from farm to farm and clapping our hands for the people to come out of their mud-walled homes, our member friend got hungry, so he picked up a rock and knocked down 3 mangoes off the nearest tree, and we kept working.

Fourth, our p-day adventures.

Last week we had our fishing trip in the jungle swamp and the ocean bay, catching more crab than fish. Today we visited the sand dunes close to the beach and enjoyed riding down them on pieces of pvc roofing. I was the proud pioneer, but everyone managed to do it and have a fun time. We went with the whole district. This country is beautiful and I love it so much I can’t imagine leaving it in a couple of months or weeks. Brazil will forever be a part of me.

I am very happy, and I love this oppurtunity to represent Jesus Christ. I love knocking doors and being well-received and seeing so many great people getting to know the gospel. We are praying and working so that we can help many of these people be baptized and make the gospel of Jesus Christ an integral part of their lives. I am in paradise.

Genipapo e Fruto-pão

2008-04-30T20:47:00.000-05:00

Well sorry folks, it'll be another quick one. P-day was eventful and is already almost over, but the week has been great. We got to know the members and the city and the surrounding towns and farms. We went to Aracaju twice, and today we took a look around and the capital city here is beautiful. We also went down to Estáncia for our district meeting, which is almost in Bahia.

The branch is really struggling - the problems here are complex (leadership, retention, gossip etc.), but we are getting to work and hoping for success. Sunday was real low on attendance, but our talks were good (if i do say so myself). I gave a Monson-style discourse on the godhead and unity and love. Someone robbed the church, so i had to do it without a microphone, but it worked out just fine.

We are working a bit now out in the "povoados", distant stretches of small farms. It is wonderful. The people are humble and kind, even if they aren't all that interested. The lunches with the members are fantastic, and we´ve gotten to eat some new stuff. Beans and Rice with breadfuit sauce is terrific, and so is Genipapo juice (imagine a grapefruit that looks like an almost rotten potato).

Well i would love to say more, but we gotta run and get our activity ready for this evening. I promise to write more next time. The gospel is true. It is a pleasure being a missionary.

Elder Monroe

Itaporanga!

2008-04-24T17:03:00.000-05:00

Well folks, the Elder Monroe Missionary story took an interesting twist yesterday. I was transfered to another state, to train a new missionary, in a brand new area where the church has been here only about 9 months. It is the dream of any missionary.

My companion is from São Paulo and his name is Elder R. Marinho. In missionary language, we call trainees "filhos" or sons. My son will be a great missionary. He is a great guy.

Our area is the beautiful little town of Itaporanga, Sergipe. It is beautiful and the few members and citizens we´ve met until now have been terrific. I can't express how happy I am, and the great expectation of new experiences and new challenges.

Things finished well in Jacintinho. I handed off the baton of Zone Leader to my good friend Elder Olson who will be companion of Elder Maia. (ha this doesn't work in portuguese - baton means lipstick).
It was a rough last week there, a lot of hard work, and little success, but visiting the other great people we´d met and taught and baptized was very satisfying. Also, we had the baptism of Claudia´s son Jean. (He was the 11 yr old son that decided he didn't want to be baptized with his whole family the week before). It was great to help that family be united as members of the church.

Monday, my last day, was also a holiday. The ward had a barbecue and it was great to pass by and say goodbye to everyone and feel very appreciated. These past two days have already had so many new experiences - going to the mission office (a rarity), entering into the President´s room and seeing the board (2nd time in my mission), going to Sergipe (1st time), not having to walk with a cell phone (first time in almost a year), training (1st time), a beautiful new area (1st time).

Well we´ve got to run, the field is ripe and ready to harvest.

Elder Monroe

Cachoeira de novo!

2008-04-17T09:13:00.001-05:00

So the big news today, was that we went to that waterfall in Viçosa again. It was great. We went as a combined district activity, so there were 10 missionaries. Everything worked out as planned, we headed out of Maceió bright and early, met up with the missionaries from Viçosa at a farmhouse outside of town. (ok so it wasn't a farmhouse, i just can't remember the right word in english, for portugueses speakers, it was a povoado).

We hiked along the river, saw a snake, checked out the waterfall, threw some rocks, then hiked back. It was crazy beautiful as always, and nice to get out in nature after being cooped up in my inner-city slum style neighborhood.Nevertheless, I love Jacintinho, and this past week has been fantastic.

We had stake conference, which was an impressive success. The general authority speaker from Brasilia was wonderful - he gave a talk that exhibited a wise balance between doctrines and simple, applicable suggestions to have a happier family. Our investigators really liked it. We have been working in a new area (a 5 street hill thats called "Indian Village") and although it appeared to be a great spot to work, it turned out not to be, but because we had done our best and worked with faith, Heavenly Father blessed us with 10 wonderful people at church, including another cousin of the bishop and his family that we began teaching yesterday.

Sunday evening we had the baptism of Claudia and her son Geovanio (13) and daughter Geovania (9). Unfortunately, her 11 year old son decided quite out of the blue on saturday and sunday that he didn't like church anymore. I think it was more a case of pre-teen rebellion than logical thinking. He chose not to be baptized with his family, which left us a little dissapointed, but after watching the baptismal service sunday evening and being visited by the other young men on monday, monday evening he decided that he would like to be baptized this saturday!

Yesterday was my companions birthday. I surprised him with an egg smashing on his head when he woke up. We had pineapple upside-down cake at Claudia´s house at night which was a pleasant, happy moment. Her family, and Andrea, another recent convert really put a lot of love into the cake and the simple gesture meant a whole lot more than fancy decorations and lots of guests.

Other than that, my companion Elder Maia and I have had an awful good time these past couple of weeks. It is good to have a good friend. Sometimes I throw things at him when we're at home, and he has been known to point out to people that i am going bald and that i have an enormous chin, and i have been known to joke about his white hair and the fact that he is an indian.

Lately i have been in a run of extremely bad luck with street contacts - about half of my contacts this week have been people who are about 100% louco... CRAZY. Yesterday I invited an old man wearing a Metallica shirt to church and he told me that he didn't like our church because the numbers 2 and 7 are "polemic, and on the left side." Don't try and scratch your head and make sense of it, because i am pretty sure he was missing a couple of screws in the head.

Its funny when you get to know someone really well, and you can tease them, help them, trust them and work well together. We have got the system down - too bad because transfers are next week and the chances of us staying together as companions, and for me staying in the area, are slim to none. But I will go where the Lord wants me and do what He wants me to do.

Have a good week.
Elder Monroe

Shishkabobs

2008-04-11T08:09:00.001-05:00

Today was a good day. We did a shishkabob barbecue at the Brimhalls building by the beach which was a better success than the last time. (When it rained). There were a lot of missionaries (22) which reminded me of how stinking big this zone is.

We marinated the meat in tariaki sauce with the help of Sister Brimhall, assembled and grilled the shishkabobs, and then had tropical fruit salad with ice cream for desert. I made ranch dip with veggies. It was funny having a bunch of american food, but it was pretty good. This time I delegated a lot more and it all worked out great.

I did division with good old friend Elder Olson which was a pleasure. We had the baptisms of two great children who have been going to church with their aunt for more than a month, and they were very happy. Their mom is less-active and came to the baptism and felt very motivated to return to activity. It was great.

General Conference was good too - i only saw a couple of talks because i was doing crowd control and worrying about investigators most of the time. I managed to sit down and listen to Elder Christensen´s and Elder Ballard´s adresses during the final session, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

I ended up laughing quite a bit during conference, as I found myself trying to explain everything to some wonderfully simple Brazilian investigators. Hilarious moments include:

1. Trying to explain what that giant thing that looked like a castle was behind the people singing. It seemed like I was explaining a martian creature - a giant mass of pipes that make noise as the air comes out. My comp tried to help - he said "There like giant whistles."

2. When i explained that the organist was playing 4 keyboards and was even playing with his feet (they thought i was joking) and then the camera zoomed in you could see three hands playing three different keyboards. Andrea asked "what? the organist has three arms?".

3. Answering funny questions like; Why is everyone white? Why is everyone laughing? (jokes don't always survive translation) Are we supposed to sing in english? (the words on the screen are in english, and there weren´t any hymnals) Why is it so cold? (air conditioning is a rare thing, and most people here say that if you use it, you´ll get sick). Is she an apostle? (it was an innocent question for a recent-convert).

The nice relaxing moment was the priesthood session that we watched at 6am on sunday morning. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Well other than that things are cooking along as usual. Lots of work, its been hot this past week, but that´s how i like it. I love eating macaxeira, which i think i have mentioned in the past, which i believe is translated as manioc. Its like a cross between a potato and a root. I´ve been eating a lot lately with cevada (its brown and looks like coffee, but its made of barley so its kosher.)
We have been learning a lot about faith and dilligence and the importance of planning. Yesterday we had a terrific lesson with the bishops uncle and cousins, hopefully we will have soom great baptisms in this and the coming weeks.

Hooray for Israel.
Elder Monroe

Sou Velho

2008-04-03T10:55:00.002-05:00

This past week wasn't as eventful as others have been. Let's see. Yesterday was zone conference, where we learned about faith from President Muir, goals (by yours truly and his companion Elder Maia), and then planning by the assistants. It was good and we learned alot. It was also a whole lot different. My companion and I conversed afterwards about how much we have seen the mission change here - the attitudes, the feelings, the success... things are very different here than back in 2006.

Credit is due to President and Sister Muir. When we understand the true definition of success, as explained by President Eyring in his October Conference Address, it is evident that the mission today is more successful. True success is when we provide the environment necessary for testimonies to be built. It is impossible to force testimony on anyone, but we can show how it is important and teach and invite someone to gain their own testimony. I feel this environment now. It wasn't an easy change, nor a quick change, but really it has happened.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn from the scriptures and learn to be obedient. It is such a simple test of our faith.

In other news, I ate a giant chocolate easter egg on Monday because they finally put a discount on them in the supermarket here. Monday we had a great district meeting in Beira Mar (Seaside), where the chapel is literally a couple hundred yards from a beautiful coconut-lined beach. To get back to the bus stop, you walk for about 10 minutes right along the shore. I told my companion - "Hey we are gonna have to walk fast , and whatever happens, if I go for the water, just hold me back." But luckily I managed to pass it by.

I have done 4 of the 6 divisions of this transfer. It is exhausting but exhilarating. This past week I worked with Elder Máximo, a young district leader, and Elder Simão, a good friend. I love being able to train and teach and learn from them as well. We discuss how to be an effective leader, how to love and how to obtain results. Its not an easy balance, but its necessary to learn.

It looks like my days in Alagoas are numbered. I think in about 3 weeks I will be released as zone leader and transfered to Sergipe, the other state of the mission that until now I have never been to. But I am happy and grateful for the great learning experiences of being a zone leader.

I love Jesus Christ and am grateful for his mercy, grace and patience. May each of us strive to be fruitful vines and aid Him in His great work.

Elder Monroe

Internet was Broken

2008-03-26T10:57:00.001-05:00

Well last week the internet was broken, and now when i think back and realize all that has happened in that past two weeks, there is so much stuff i think i will try and to the lightning fast version:

13 march: interviews with president muir, i did the preinterview chat with sister muir (talking to each missionary about their area book, work and health) and it was fun

14 march: baptism of Isael. This was one of the most rewarding and spiritual conversions that i have participated in. This is Isael, son of a pastor of another church, who really changed his life and his habits. It was a moving experience. The baptismal meeting was reverent and celestial.

15 march:saturday is always crazy - running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to follow up on everyon thats supposed to go to church on sunday. Generally we teach on saturdays about the importance of the sacrament and keeping the sabbath day holy.

16 march: we survived sunday - it was good with 8 investigators at church.

17 march: district meeting with elder olson´s district. The training came across well. then we did division with elder wurtz and elder romero from the central branch.

18 march: we finished up division, i ate lunch at a market in jaraguá with a new friend, the bishop of benedito bentes 1. At night i taught my last english class here (I ended the class because new people weren´t coming and because we don't have enough time to teach it). To finish off, i taught everyone how to sing "Down by the Bay". It was ridiculously funny.

19 march; we played soccer and i made 2 goals. at night we did division with the assistants - elder hirschi and elder luna.

20 march: me and elder hirschi hiked through a lot of muddy roads, or more accurately rivers and managed to find some new investigators in spite of the rain.
The division was good.

21 march: (Friday of the Passion) I ate a delicious lunch of Peixe no Coco (fish in the coconut). I ate sooo much. For this holiday, everything is cooked in coconut - i ate the fish in the coconut with pumpkin cream cooked in coconut with swiss chard cooked in coconut sauce. It is SOO GOOD! My comp doesn't like fish... so i got to eat even more! Wahoo! Then we got to work. Things were going swell until we went to do some visits at night with Andrea (recent convert) accompianing us to become friends with some new investigators. And then it started to POUR. And our hour came and we just had to walk all the way home in the pouring rain. At least its not cold. I am thinking of buying an umbrella.

22 march: The baptism of Wesley - a great guy of 17 years. His mom came to the baptism and liked it so much she came sunday too and asked for the march liahona about Jesus Christ that the Bishop gave his talk about. After the baptism it was only 8:20 so we went out to work more, and once again, got poured on and we arrived home SOAKED.

23 march: (Easter) A miracle! it didn´t rain between 7 and 10 in the morning, liked we had prayed for. 11 people went to church. Wahoo! Lots of new investigators and a great single-mother family with a bunch of real smart kids. They loved it. During the afternoon we divided with elder dorneles and elder moreira, and once again, got stuck in the rain. We arrived home once again... soaked. At this point i was running out of dry things to wear.

24 march: I was sick of being wet, so we took the a taxi to district meeting in antares (with the 4 of us splitting it, it ended up being cheaper than the bus!) The District Meeting turned out really good. Monday afternoon we worked and didn't get wet and found some good new investigators. Monday evening we did a family night at Patricias house with Geilza and Quiteria.. and afterwards they surprised me with == a supper of... peixe no coco with cuz cuz no coco! Once again, it was awesome. I have grown to like seafood here. Alot.

25 march... yesterday. We tried to resolve some problems during the morning hours and then went to the Farol Chapel for the LZ council, because President Muirs´house is being refurbished. It was good. Really good matter of fact, but it didn't have that same really cool feeling of being in the president´s house. We learned a lot. I missed seeing a lot of old buds from the council, as i am now the oldest member for a zone leader. It was fun to look at the other zone leaders and see many missionaries that previously worked in my zones and that i have been able to train. Quite satisfying actually.

And today, is PDAY.

Well this letter took way too long. But I am happy, healthy and terrific. The gospel is true. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I am grateful for his patience and grace.

Happy Late Easter

Elder Monroe

Blast from the Past

2008-03-12T21:58:00.002-05:00

What a week. It was "blast from the past" week. After 3 months of thinking would never go back, I finally had the chance to go visit Viçosa and do baptismal interviews, as they are part of our zone. We went Friday, and it was so much fun to go back a year and a half later to see the place where it all began. While my companion performed the baptismal interview, which was a super long walk from the center of the city, I went with Elder Manfull, one of the elders from viçosa and paid a visit to a couple people I haven't seen in a while.

Walking through those old streets and seeing all the familiar sights, and then coming up the street to see the house of José Cicero and Maria Luiza gave me a thrill. The thrill was bigger when I knocked on their door and their surprise and happiness. We chatted and talked about their experiences in their first year of being members. After a little while, Samara, the now quite grown up young woman of the family arrived home from school. I remember that in the beginning she was the least excited to go visit church, but now is the family´s most faithful member.

Remember Quitério, the second young man I baptized in Viçosa? He and Sâmara dated off and on the past year, and it was hysterical hearing about it and realizing that it was me and Elder Lucas who put them together. I passed by Maylson´s house but he wasn't there, but then by chance we ran into him in the street and it was a happy reunion. To top it off, we ate a 1 real serving of ice cream - ice cream in Viçosa is ridiculously cheap. The car trip was also beautiful and brought back a lot of memories.

Saturday was a busy day - we were accompianied by our new friend Everson, a young man of 16 who is excited to serve a mission in a couple of years. There were lots of appointments that fell through, but things worked out saturday night for the baptism of Jaqueline, daughter of recent-convert Josefa. It was wonderful seeing their happiness, and especially when Josefa surprised everyone including the bishop asking how to pay her tithing sunday morning after Sunday School.

Sunday was exhausting but we managed to get it all done - lunch with Severina was crazy as usual but good. Unfortunately Severina and Maicó weren't baptized because they didn't manage to quit smoking. It was sad to see that we were quite a bit more disapointed then they were, but I am sure that some day in the near future they will manage to do it. Sunday evening we did about 60 contacts in order to reach our weekly goal (being sick earlier in the week had left us a little behind), but we reached our goal and felt good about it.

Monday was transfers, and what do you know..... I stayed here in Jacintinho with Elder Maia. I was very happy with the news, and will enjoy 6 more weeks of trying to help our zone have more success. We did not reach our goal for the past transfer, and even though I believe the vast majority of our missionaries are being extremely diligent, more needs to be done for us to reach our potential.

This transfer there was some surprises - our zone grew from 16 to 22 missionaries, which is pretty much gigantic. We have 5 districts instead of 3 which will mean quite a bit more running around and having to plan extremely carefully to make everything happen, but it is worth the extra effort.

This Friday will be one of the most meaningful baptisms that I have experienced of my mission. His name is Israel and he is 32 years old. He is a son of a evangelical pastor, but has been distant from his family religion for a long time. As he learned to resent many of the things his father taught and he saw as wrong, and as he lost hope that God could ever forgive him or trust in him, Israel turned to drinking and heavy drug abuse.

At the same time, about one month ago, the father of a family of members here in the ward passed away of a heart attack. I know the family, as they had also lived in Benedito Bentes II where I served last year. I went to visit the family with the bishop, and after speaking of the message of the Plan of Salvation, I felt inspired to challenge each member of the family to share the gospel knowldege they had with a friend. Patricia, about 22 years old, shared the booklet I gave to her with her friend... Israel. One week later he came to our play, but left early because he had another commitment, but showed up the next day at church (to our complete shock).

Now Israel is a changed man. He prayed the other night to conclude our lesson, and I felt the sincerity of his search for forgiveness. I feel so moved to have taken part in his conversion process. Saturday night he came to the baptism, but arrived late. We conversed for 40 minutes about repentance and forgiveness and ended the lesson giving him a blessing of comfort and counsel. It was one of the crowning spiritual moments of my mission.

I know that Heavenly Father has guided us, and him... (I didn't know why in the past week I have been studying only one topic - repentance and its implications in mercy and justice). When this was the principal worry of Israel, the idea that God would pardon him and accept his repentance and strengthen him in his constant battle against temptation, I felt the Spirit testify through me, and we saw his countenance change.

I have a testimony that God loves us and He wants to forgive us. We just have to become sincerely repented - moldable and humble and willing to follow Christ as He taught and He showed. Israel has been an example of this. I am so grateful for learning from his spectacular experience.

May each of us have this spectacular but simple thrill - the quite but serene spirit that brings us comfort, pardon and peace. It was availabe to each one of us - whether our sin is the most serious of drugs, or the most simple but still incorrect way of thinking or criticizing others. That is the miracle of the Atonement for each one of us.

Since that lesson sunday evening, it has been miracle after miracle. It is only Wednesday, and we have already found 21 new investigators. I know God is working with us and that we are doing His work. We aren't perfect, but one we are willing to work our hardest and do His will, He will let us become instruments in His hands. Have a wonderful week, and remember to obey with humility and sincerity.

Elder Monroe

Severina - Don't Smoke!

2008-03-06T14:05:00.000-06:00

Well not as much to say this week. Today was swell. We had our zone activity, which consisted of a soccer game, followed by water balloon volleyball (which was a hit) then just a little bit of football and then we went and ate at a barbecue place called xoboi. For the equivalent of 8 bucks, I ate all the fine grilled meat i could ever want, accompianed by a bunch of other good food and as much soda as wanted.It was fun to be with the zone and relax a little bit.

The work in our area has been hard but invigorating this past week. Some people who were progressing well had some slip ups and many of these resulted in postponed baptismal dates.
Many chose to do other things that were more convenient instead of going to church. We were feeling a little under the weather sunday and monday, but it was interesting how Heavenly Father put the right people in our path.

Last friday we made japanese food for lunch which turned out pretty dang good. We are knocking a lot of doors - more doors than I have ever knocked in my mission, and this hasn't given us much success. We are trying to find more new investigators using the members and references, and this has had mixed but mostly positive results. Tonight we will do a division with our Ward Mission Leader and the Bishop, which should be real good.

Today I had to think about some things that really were weird - thinking and planning about apartments after my mission and BYU classes... these ideas are so far from my reality that is humorous to contemplate them. I think that right now where I want to live is Viçosa, and that my major desired should be training a new greenie. Thats what I would like to do. But life is good and we are working our tails off and we are happy.

Please remember Severina and Oseias in your prayers. Severina has 3 children who are members, she is about 60 yrs old and is trying and almost completely off smoking (she has been smoking for about 50 years now). She has a testimony and is old and funny and sometimes angry but always sincere. Oseais is having some tought personal problems and I hope that he
gets stronger instead of weaker because of them.

I know that when we are obedient and faithful when it is not convenient is when we really show the Lord that we love Him and that we trust in Him. That is what faith really means.

Have a great week,

Elder Monroe

Lessons in Portuguese, Volume 7

2008-02-28T21:17:00.001-06:00

Good evening class, here our our vocabulary words for this evening:

1. Oxente! (say it oh-shantee) it means ... WOW or What in the world? or can be said in its shorter form, just oh-shee. It is generally an expression of surprise or shock and determined by your tone of voice can imply positive delight or negative dissaproval.

We said oxente after we worked our tails off friday and saturday and it seemed like everything was falling apart. We said oxente when we planned the rehearsals for the ward play and nobody came. We said oxente but in the happy shocked way when we spent almost two hours trying to help everyone go to church and it seemed like nobody wanted to go, and then we ended up with 9 wonderful people at church including an incredibly elect gentleman who is a son of a pastor of a popular puritan-style church. We said oxente again on monday evening after we taught him about The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he understood everything, asked intelligent questions and promissed to pray and humbly ask God if it was true.

2. iapois! (say it yaw-pois) ((poi like the hawaiian food poi)). You have to say this word with a smile in your voice, and lift up your eyebrows in the pois part to emphasize the joy and certainty of your response. iapois means of course! with certainty! its garaunteed!

Iapois was the response of Oseais when we stopped by his house and asked if he was excited for his baptism. He said "Iapois! ´tô animadíssimo!" It was a wonderful baptismal meeting. Oseais, our great 32 year old man who quit drinking and smoking, Andrea, the 18 year old young woman who came to church 3 times in a row and never doubted a single thing we taught her and Alisson, a 15 year old young man who decided to be baptized like his brother had been last year. We had a strong presence of ward members and the font was full to the very brim because the bishop filled it up last minute and we were worrried about so many other things, that we only turned it off when it was almost overflowing.

The Spirit was strong and the emotions were celestial. I cannot describe the sincere joy and satisfaction to participate in the conversion of someone who has sincere desire, genuine conversion and simple faith to follow our Savior Jesus Christ.

3. Obrigado (Owe-bree-gawd-oh). I have found myself wanting to say thank you, so many times this past week. Obrigado to my wonderful companion. Together we have been capable of teaching and testifying with the sincere company of the spirit. We have been able to give united and spiritual trainings that have affected changes in the work of our zone. Obrigado to our Lord and Savior for having prepared and assisted 11 of his children to make sacred covenants with Him this past saturday in the Pajuçara zone. We have been guided and blessed with many wonderful people to teach.

Obrigado to our Savior Jesus Christ for having restored Priesthood authority on the earth. Through the performing of sacred ordinances, the power of God is made manifest, and we can see and feel and witness the convinving evidence that God lives. He speaks to us. He guides us through living prophets and has prepared our return path to Him. I know that He is interested in each of us, and that His son has lovingly prepared our way. May we really ponder and feel the gratitude for this marvelous plan. May we pray and share our gratitude with Him, and allow His Spirit to guide us.

This week, I felt so many times His hand turning my had or guiding my feet, inspiring my tongue and bouying my courage. Yesterday I felt to enter in to a street, to knock a door, we found the young man who was waiting to hear our message. I am not sure he has the faith to follow it, but I have certainty that now he knows.

I have a testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He speaks to a living prophet named Thomas Spencer Monson. God loves us and wants us to return to Him. All we have to do is humbly ask Him in prayer and then follow subjecting our will to His.

Thanks for your love and prayers,

Elder Monroe

Pegando fogo!

2008-02-20T20:36:00.002-06:00

Good morning northern hemisphere!

Well things are heating up in every possible sense. The zone is doing a lot better - it looks like every district will have baptisms this week. The weather managed to get a little more hotter, which i am completely used too, but once in a while the sun makes you want to run home and take a shower. I generally take 3 showers a day - more to cool off than to clean myself.

Thats what pegando fogo means - catching fire. My companion and I, we are very happy with the work of the zone. It is such a blessing to be able to see our guidance followed and see each district leader begin to understand and see his own personal influence and really start to work double time.

We have been talking a lot about Jacob chapter 5 in our trainings. We use some key passages to communicate the following ideas. I don't have the verses written down, but I will guess them.

vs. 12-13 (or close by) the vineyard is His, the fruits are His - we need to have the vision that He has, that He has communicated to the literal lord of our vineyard, our Mission President.

vs. 20-21 I don't know how these verses sound in english, but in portuguese they come across very very strongly. "Don't give me counsels - i knew this was an unproductive part of the vineyard, but look and ye will see that it has brought forth much fruit" (monroe translation)

vs. 43 The Lord wept and asked what more could he have done for his vineyard. We are trying to help each companionship feel this urgency and emotion in their work. Understanding the value of each person with whom they talk, each person they maybe don't manage to talk to, each person that they left uncontacted because they have chosen to continue to work with someone who has not shown the faith necessary to progress - this is something we want to them to understand, and if necessary, cry about. When we asked the question - when was the last time that you cried when one of your investigators didn't fulfill with a comittment, the sisters raised their hands and jokingly said - "we cry every day!"

vs. 70-75 When we work dilligently in the vineyard with all of our might, the Lord will work with us. When we obey His commandments with exactness, we will feel joy, and happiness in our efforts, and much fruit will be brought unto Him.

These scriptural themes and ideas have helped elders and sisters to take upon them personal responsibility for the work performed in their areas. When we understand that is the Lord who requires the fruit - that it is Christ that feels such urgency for us to understand and use His atoning sacrifice, we find within us a greater motivation and patience to be diligent, cheerful and bold in our work.

Taking personal responsibilty in our areas also leaves us to feel the pain that Christ feels when people don't progress, or don't go to church. It is a new and interesting feeling, and at times exhausting, but is a valuable experience in coming to know, understand and therefore better follow our Savior Jesus Christ.

Sunday was one of these days - we had worked very diligently, but only 6 people came to church. From the side of membership, it was also a weak sunday - only 87 total people in the sacrament meeting. I gave a talk about repentance in which the Spirit strongly manifested itself. It was a privilege to preach repentance and faith and how to show our value for the atonement.
Sunday evening we had a great ward council on retention and reactivation. Monday we gave this training that I mentioned a little of in the Pajuçara district which was really fun - a bunch of young elders.

Tuesday was zone conference and I went even though I had spent a good part of the night in the bathroom throwing up. I played the prelude and the opening hymn, then I almost passed out, so I went in the last bench and slept until lunch. Then I drank a little sprite and then we gave our training and then I managed to sit up and participate the rest of the conference.

Elder Maia taught english class - he did impressively well, and no one showed up for our theater rehearsal for the Book of Mormon play we will have on saturday, so I don't know how it will all work out, but it will. The play will be after the baptismal meeting, which if everything works out, will be of Oseias, Allisson and Andrea. Oseias will be the first man baptized in the history of the ward (the ward is 8 months old - it was divided last June).

Thanks for your prayers and love, I am sure having the time of my life here in Alagoas. I love Brazil!

Elder Monroe

cansado mas contente

2008-02-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

The fridge broke, so that means my diet has changed. That means less frozen fruite shakes and more lukewarm water with bread and eggs. Avocado is back in season which makes me a happy camper.

As far as the work goes – we had one of our most intense weeks last week. We found 36 new investigators, taught around 50 lessons and we were prepared to have a big group in church when.... we woke up Sunday morning to the sound of pouring rain. We headed out in the rain to try and help everyone anyways, with mixed results.

The bottom line is that those that have faith and really wanted to learn about Jesus Christ went to church, and the rest of them didn’t. Andrea went for her second time. She is excited for her baptism next week and is one of the most intelligent people i have taught in my mission. She is 18 years old and lives with her brother in a half built house – we have to teach her in the late afternoon because we teach her in front of her house amidst the bricks and wood that is piling up for them to be able to finish building the house. She reads and thinks and always has good questions for us.

But in reality, i think the rain was what God wanted to happen. We were able to strain our large group and focus in on those who really need and deserve our time and attention. In sacrament meeting, the talks were almost desastrous. The kind of things that need to be talked about, but also need to be talked about in just the right way. The first talk was about pornography, but it was survivable. The second one was supposed to be about scripture study, but it was a disaster. It was a little funny guy named pedro who invited our investigator to be baptized from the pulpit. He said, and i quote; “Don´t be ashamed to be a mormon... just be one!” I just about died. He kept talking and talking so i got up and walked to the piano to give a big hint that it was time for the intermediate hymn, but sherlock didn’t catch on, so the bishop had to send him a note.
After the intermediate hymn (which was God be With you till we meet again – since when is this an intermediate kind of hymn?) the stake patriarch gave the last talk on tithing. He preached about hell and fire insurance. But everyone survived and we are following up on everyone that was there and i think the permanent damage was minimal.

I love the stake patriarch though – we tought a very smart, well off gentleman in his house a number of times last week. They were lessons full of learning, questions, and sprititual confirmations. Unfortunately our friend Arlindo was not able to be humble enough to sincerely ask and listen and recognize the answer of the spirit. When he defiantly left the patriarch´s house last Thursday night, the three of us sat in the silence and wept. We prayed together that the Spirit could touch, teach and illuminate Arlindo. The words of the Patriarch in his prayer were sincere, serene and powerful. We left with a deep peace knowing we had done our part.

Yesterday in the zone council at the president’s house, we had a time to separate into group and use an interesting thinking pattern to try and resolve some of the problems in the mission. I was asked to head one of the groups and our discussion and group thinking was lively, productive and innovative. We left our discussion with a better understanding of the nature of the problem and new ideas and specific methods to make changes in the culture of the mission and the results that we produce.

I have a testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon helps us to understand how Christ speaks and guides us, and can assist us to better understand the bible and truly live Christ´s teachings. I love being a missionary and love stopping people on street and knocking on their doors, and getting yelled at and stared at and almost eaten by dogs and run over by busses. I love my companion and we are being dilligent and having a little fun at the same time.

Have a good week,

Elder Monroe

We made it through another Carnaval

2008-02-06T20:08:00.000-06:00

We survived one more carnaval. I am glad that this one is my last. I made it out well - i only got hit by one flying banana and some flour that a 4 yr old girl running in the street threw on me. There were moments of laughter, seeing the humorous traditions and moments of sadness seeing the suffering of and consequences of alcohol and drug abuse and violence.

Yet in the midst of the craziness, we had many wonderful spiritual experiences that contrasted sharply with our experiences in the street.

We had an immensely spiritual lesson with Arlindo in the home of the Stake Patriarch. It is a wonderful privilege to teach someone who has to desire to understand and a self drive to know the truth. He listened attentively and then afterwards explained more than a little bit about how he felt (he likes to talk alot).

Andrea chose to go to church with us on sunday, even though it was just Sacrament Meeting.
She read the Book of Mormon on monday and tuesday decided to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ. We teach her amidst the piles of dirt and bricks that sit in front of her half finished house. She is intelligent and has nothing to call her own, but a sharp intellect and her desire to do what is right.

The youth were gone on their camping trip - I was so glad. The zone suffered with the parades and the drinking and the craziness. We had extremelly weak church attendance and weaker success in finding new investigators, but we are dedicated to redouble our efforts in the coming days. It is a privelage to pilot our zone of committed young missionaries.

In my interview with President Muir on monday, we discussed the importance of having fruits and results, by carefully planning and reaching our daily goals. It is this that we will strive to teach and help the zone accomplish in order to fulfill our goals.

It was wonderful to see the funeral of President Hinckley on Saturday, and to explain the process and the announcement of President Monson as president of the church to the members here. Seeing their faith, love and respect has been comforting and strengthening.

I love being a missionary and am so grateful for my wonderful companion. We are working united and dilligently and feeling the spirit manifest itself strongly in our work. For this i am grateful and genuinely happy.

May each of us strive to work dilligently in memory of President Hinckley and may we strive in our personal efforts to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Monroe

A Trusting Child

2008-01-30T20:28:00.000-06:00

When I woke up to the sound of heavy rain and saw that there was about 3 centimeters of water on the floor, I said to my companion: "Well there is only one thing for us to do... make paper boats."

When I saw the transfers, changing 9 of the 18 missionaries of our zone... i sighed a reluctant sigh of relief. We have a great group of young missionaries who want to listen and work hard. That is pretty much all a leader can ask for. This past transfer was a lot of stress, and way too many phone calls to the president.

When Noite Fashion (Fashion Night), our activity that was a big hit on friday night finally got
started at 8:30, an hour late, but with everyone smiling and clapping to the music, I was quite content.

When it got over and everyone attacked the cooler full of 300 ice cream pops... i started passing
them out like a madman, and enjoyed seeing the many smiles.

When my new companion and I began to descend into the grota, bouncing down the hundreds of filthy stairs, and his eyes widened and the sun was burning... we began to work.

When Saturday i could see 45 people from the waters of baptism, and the smiles on the faces of Nubia, Bianca and Beatriz. I was happy.

When I saw 8 investigators along with the 3 people to be confirmed in church in the rain, my heart was glad.

When I walked in the front gate of the church in pouring rain, and saw that there was not a single car in the parking lot, but that the church was full of faithful saints, i almost cried. Not a single member of our ward has a car, but they do have a lot of faith.

When the bishop finished his marvelous and beautiful talk with a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ, I wept as I looked from the piano to the congregation and could see the faces of the three men who were visiting. They sat attentive and enlightened.

When walking down the highway in the sun, i remembered that those three men had been the three men that i had fasted for on thursday, i wept silently again. Arlindo, Luiz and Oseias.

This life is a compact and vivid passage through the evil, filthy world in which a simple, pure and innocent faith guides us if we follow like a trusting child.

Elder Monroe

Eita bagunça!

2008-01-23T21:29:00.000-06:00

Long live Jacintinho! Things are good here in the grota. We finally broke our sacrament meeting attendance goal with the bishop this sunday. There were 104 people including 8 investigators. I played the piano as usual, and had a little luck this time because they were all hymns i know well. Sometimes i barely scrape by playing the hymns, but funnily enough few notice and sadly enough even fewer sing.

This friday we will have NOITE FASHION. Fashion is one of the many english words that have been adopted as super cool here. Other super cool english words that get used here include "kit" and "fresh" and "ranking". We are going to have a fashion show of the young women and women dressed modestly. Everyone is pretty darn excited.

We had the baptism of Henrique last week. He is a 13 year old young man whose mother was baptized in december but he wanted nothing to do with the missionaries. Now is our newest and happiest deacon and getting ready to go on the young mens campout during carnaval. Carnaval is arriving next week, and the craziness has already begun. Lately the grota has been full of roving bands of teenage boys throwing eggs at eachother. Whole nieghborhoods chase around other groups and its pretty hysterical if you ask me. Most people get mad but i think its funny.

Our house is almost done getting tiled. We have been living about a month now is construction mode. I will be happy when the dust settles... literally. Now that the other 4 missionaries moved out and took most of the furniture and almost everything is nice looking, it is funny because we live in a big giant empty house.

The work has been vigorous lately... exhausting, a little stressfull managing the problems of the zone, but very satisfying seeing the results of our efforts in our own area. I hope things continue and the families we are working with can continue progressing forward with faith. Luiz and Rosangela are doing well. They didn't go to church this past sunday which was a big downer, but they are almost off of their vices.. (smoking, drinking etc.) and they're daughters funnily enough will be baptized this week because they want to go on the young women's campout during carnaval, and they have already been going to church a while with a family friend.

The bishop asked if we could do it this way so we are being obedient and trying to help everything work out. Luiz is excited and I hope seeing and feeling the spirit of the Baptism of his daughters will give him sufficient faith and courage to completely recover from his vices and decide to get married. We are almost there with him.

I have also started reading Jesus O Cristo (Jesus the Christ in Portuguese) and I am enjoying it. I am learning alot and increasing my testimony and understanding of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for your letters and prayers. Please pray for Luiz, Rosangela and Oseias... and Arlindo.

Thanks,

Elder Monroe

Big wheel keeps on turning

2008-01-17T08:14:00.000-06:00

I heard that song the other day in the Grota of the Cigano (The shantytown of the gypsy) and starting laughing to myself.

Well I am 21 now and honestly enough, life is continuing on just like it used to be. The past two weeks have been a lot of hard work, but have had some good, satisfying results. The best part was having 12 investigators at church - a miracle for our are here, including a new family we have to teach. Our new family is Luiz and Rosangela and their 5 children. They went to church together on sunday, and the members got really excited. The last speaker welcomed them by name from the pulpit. Thats the kind of thing that makes you so happy as a missionary that you just about fall over.

We have another great man who is progressing. He has gone to church twice now and we are working on the big obstacle - helping him quit drinking. Drinking is such a severe problem in this area. He quit smoking and was doing well with the drinking part until sunday night, but we talked to him yesterday and he was doing better. We had a good one of those "Satan tripped you and you fell down on the floor and now its your turn to get up and punch him in the face" Ok so i sounds better in portuguese - that is my spritual pep talk that I like to use with overcoming addictions.

Last week I did division with Elder Chamorro again, but this time I did it in his area, which was a pleasure. Its the only day of the transfer I get to be junior companion, which although it doesn't mean less work, it is just a little bit relaxing mentally. We got some good work done in his area. We had many sophisticated conversations about helping missionaries have desire and be succsessful. It was awesome.

One of the lessons I feel I have most strongly learned here is changing my view of happiness. I've talked about this before, but I learned this lesson again this week.

1. Arapiraca - My old zone had a great week. They baptized 21 people with 10 men, including 6 families that were married together on wednesday. 2 of those families were families I had found and worked with Elder Delfino. I felt so much joy even though I wasn't there for the baptism. I didn't get any credit, but in my heart I was incredibly happy.

2. Churrasco - Today we had our zone barbecue at the Brimhall´s house (the mission office couple). They live in a nice apartment building on the beach. Going to that building was the weirdest experience I have had in Alagoas.... I saw the beach. I saw the tropical paradise. I know this whole state and the interior upside down and backwards, and had never seen the gorgeous crystalline aqua water. It was incredible. Hawaiian sized hotels and gorgeous avenues, streams of tourists and rows of coconut trees. I had to pinch myself. It was weird.

The part where I learned happiness was in doing the grilling. I spent the whole activity preparing food or sweating over the grill (I got real wet because a squall came in off the ocean, so I was sweating and it was pouring and the meat was burning all at the same time. I was happy because everyone liked the activity.

It was fun getting to know the Brimhalls better - turns out that Sister Brimhall grew up in Clairmont, went to Madison high school, and her father worked at Convair, so its pretty much a slam dunk that she knows my moms family. We didn't managed to make the connection, but I am sure we will figure it out in the future.

Yesterday we had a good division with Elder Sheffer, one of the good hard working children that I have. This week had more slacking by some of them, and unfortunately some of them will have to answer for their progress (or lack thereof). Looks like one of my kids might be headed home early too, but he has had quite a few chances to fix his behavior. It still makes me sad though.We had a good conference too on the Book of Mormon and its power to respond our questions and bring us closer to Jesus Christ.

I love being a missionary. I love knocking doors and talking to people in the street. I love Alagoanos (the people here) and my favorite food is cuz-cuz with charque... haha ask Melanie what that is.

I have been learning the importance of faith, diligence and hope. We have to discover what our true desire is and then act to make it a reality. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has taught me that instead of becoming a slave to carnal desires we can become true governors of our eternal future, enjoying a delicious freedom and an untradeable joy through service.

Have a good week. Remember to read and pray.

Elder Monroe

Feliz Ano Nuevo

2008-01-01T20:45:00.000-06:00

Well folks, Happy New Year!!!

We our taking our pday today because President said so. Things are good here in Maceió, and our happy Christmas present last week were two baptisms - Josefa and Isaac. These baptisms were very special and the baptismal meeting was very nice. I gave the message and then realized the baptismal ordinance, and then when I returned to the baptismal room, things had gone crazy. One of Josefa´s neighbors who had come to see the baptism passed out and had what seemed like a stroke or something. It was crazy. She started sweating and drooling and lost consciousness and we took her to the chapel and laid her on a bench and gave her a blessing and 20 minutes she woke up but didn't remember who we were and where she was, but then about 10 minutes remembered and we went back to the room and sang the last hymn and ate the cake i had made.

This sunday was difficult - not many people in church, and the missionaries of our zone are a little bit disappointed and needing a boost. We are trying to help everyone work with more desire and vigor.

I feel more and more like I am a father - my 5 children that live with me are all behaving and doing well. Some of my other 10 children are being a little bit rebellious and lazy, but I will do my best to help them. This morning we played soccer and had a barbecue to celebrate the new year. Yesterday I went to sleep at 10:30 and then woke up at 11:50 to watch the fireworks. Oh how I love Brazil. Everyone here dressed in white and went to the beach to watch the fireworks.

In other news, I finished the Book of Mormon yesterday to complete my goal. It was a good finish and I feel excited to start at the beginning today. I hope we all make some good goals for this year and that we can get to work making them happen. Pray for my children - the missionaries of the pajuçara zone.

Happy New Year.

Elder Monroe

Feliz Natal

2007-12-26T20:24:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas = Feliz Natal

Merry Christmas to all from the neighborhood of Jacintinho, Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil. I am happy and content because we just had a big Christmas lunch with all of the usual Brazilian favorites - beans, rice, chicken, beef, potato/carot/beet salad, chicken stroganoff, pasta and of course farofa. Farofa is difficult to explain - its manioc flour thats been cooked up real quick with butter, garlic and onions and here you put it on top of everything. As we say here - NOTA 10 (A+)!

Things are going well in the Pajuçara zone - we had our interviews with President Muir yesterday, and even though I just about blew it (i thought it was a different time than it really was and eveything almost fell apart) it all worked out with a little last minute stress, calling, and literaly running a dead sprint from our house to the chapel where the president and his family were in his car waiting for us.

This sunday was a little difficult as far as the work goes - the two principal traditions of Christmas here in Maceio are:

1. Go back to the countryside home of your parents, and grandparents to spend Christmas/New Years.

2. Drink

Either of the two makes our life a little bit difficult. We are trying very hard to teach and work with men and families to help our ward - this ward was created from a ward division about 6 months ago, but I am very excited to work with the Bishop who is very sincere and has an immense desire to strengthen his ward.

Funnily enough I know the bishop´s whole family - I ate lunch at his mom´s house (Irmã Ze-zé) in Viçosa, I worked with his brother quite a bit in the Gurguri branch (which turned into a ward in novemeber, and the Maceió stake split), I know his little sister too from Viçosa. Its a wonderful family.

What I have most enjoyed the past week has been the opportunities to make friends and learn to love the great elders that live in our house with us. I mentioned I believe that I live with 5 Brazilian Elders, and of the 18 Elders my companion and I preside over, 15 are Brazilian. I feel like I am the Dad. Last night I called my five brazilian sons together to read Luke 2 like my family has always done. We read and sang together and then shared our favorite scriptures about Jesus Christ and shared our testimonies. It was a spiritual feast.

3 of my Brazilian sons are recent converts, and the only members of their families that are members of the church. What a privilege to share my traditions with them and know that our special evening remembering Jesus Christ was the first time my sons had ever spent this holiday with that kind of attitude and spirit and that I am sure they will do this in the future with their families and their children.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for having given this special privilege. I am so grateful to Jesus Christ for His humble birth, His mighty love and His eternal sacrifice. Christmas eve we visited a wonderful woman named Josefinha who is preparing to be baptized this saturday. As I read Luke 2 in her tiny "apartment" room, which could not have been bigger than 2 meters by 2 meters - sweating because it doesn't have a single window, I felt so close to Mary and Joseph and Jesus and the simplicity and humility of the Savior´s birth.

Tears came to my eyes as I could finally understand how Mary felt to have no place to go. That little stable-like apartment had the Spirit within it, even though there was terrible music blaring all around it and drinking and sin screaming from all sides. I am grateful for the oppurtunity Josefinha is having to really come to know Jesus Christ, and value His atonement by covenanting to follow Him.

May each of us sit in the dirt at least once in while to imagine what Mary and Joseph felt like. May each of us follow the spirit´s promptings hastily and trustingly like that simple obedience of the shepherds. May each of us shed a tear as we reflect of the magnificent, infinite love that Christ perfected for us individually and each one of our billions of brothers and sisters.

Merry Christmas,
Elder Monroe

Oceans 15

2007-12-19T20:22:00.000-06:00

Well what does this week have anything to do with oceans 15 (hmm this keyboard doesn’t have a question mark – today’s question mark will be the percent sign) %

Oceans because I got transferred which was unexpected. One week before Christmas, we finally have the teaching group I have been looking for my whole mission, with two complete families who have already been to church twice, and a couple other great people. I’ll be honest. I cried by myself in the bathroom after I got the news (ok so I cried while I was taking a shower – that’s not as girly). We ran around during the afternoon and evening saying goodbye to people and teaching some other ones, and then the night ended with a farewell party at Geralda’s house.
They had planned to say goodbye to the sister that was going home, but when the ward found out that I was leaving too, and the other sister as well, a bunch of people came. I felt honored that the Stake President, President Evaldo, Jailson and Alessandra (Elders Quorum Pres and Pres of Soc de Socorro oh that’s relief society) all came. There was a moment that everyone sat down and talked about what they appreciated about our work, and the comments that these leaders made about my work and my example deeply touched me. I believe it was one of the most gratifying moments of my mission.

This past week of work was so wonderful. Flavio unfortunately started drinking again, but many other people made good progress. We helped an inactive member quit drinking, had the baptism of Maria Lucia, I conducted the music and gave the last sacrament meeting talk on how we can come to personally know Jesus Christ and have a testimony of Him, through service, sacrifice, suffering and obedience. It was a very spiritual meeting, even though we had some reverence difficulties. Cleber and Simone decided to get married and baptized with their children. Cleber left his soccer team, of which he was director in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Cicero and Maria Jose became very excited about the gospel, made us a giant corn cake and came to church right on time and enjoyed all of the meetings.

15 because that’s the funny number of today. Today I reviewed with my new companion the elders who are in my new zone, and funnily enough 15 of the 18 are Brazilian. I live with 5 Brazilian elders, and I feel like I am the Dad… because I am. Everyone always looks to me and what I say goes. Of course this has nothing to do with the fact of me being from the United States, and everything to do with the fact they are all younger elders and I am the old senior Zone Leader that they have heard of but never met. It is good to be respected.

My new companion is Elder Ferreira from Brasília, a recent convert of 4 years who has the same time in the mission as me. He has asked that I send everyone a Merry Christmas and a hug for Melanie. (Hey don’t get mad at me, I am just the messenger boy).

My new area is good, but very different than any other place i have served. I am serving in the grotas (hill neighborhoods) inbetween downton Maceio and the luxurious beachfront hotel complexes. Our zone is a unique mix of poverty, luxury and then just to really mix it up, Viçosa, that little mountain town about 2 hours away also is a part of our zone. I will get to return there to do baptismal interviews in the coming weeks. I am very excited.

I know that Heavenly Father has reasons for everything that happens. Part of me is sad, but the greater part of me has been comforted in the knowledge that my work is needed here in this zone. I felt very strongly the results of my influence during the past two weeks and now feel that these same changes and improvements are necessary here in the Pajuçara zone. I know that the Elders and Heavenly Father will take good care of those great families and the wonderful people in Verdes Campos, Arapiraca.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas, and take time to feel the love and peace of this special time of the year. May we remember as we feel the love of our families that the love Christ feels for each of us is stronger and more powerful than we can begin to understand.

The Garlic Bread was Good

2007-12-13T20:52:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was the Christmas Zone conference in Maceió with all of the missionaries serving in the state of Alagoas. It was spectacular – a banquet from the local churrascaria, with tons of meat and potatoes and garlic bread, we watched the movie “It’s a wonderful life” which maybe because the fact the last time I watched a movie it was one year ago and the same movie, it was the best movie I saw all year. It made me a little trunkie though.

Our zone’s musical number came off nice, and made me proud of our group. We sang two numbers and they weren’t perfect, but they were strong and happy and sounded fine. At the end of the conference during the training of the assistants, I was called on to do a practice teaching example in front of everyone with Elder Chamorro one of the assistants. It reminded me of our division from last week, and once again that same Spirit of power was with us. We taught a man who was having trouble quitting smoking, but instead of teaching him about habits and strategies and nicotine and orange juice, we taught him about the atonement of Jesus Christ, and why Christ wanted him to quit smoking.

It was short but one of the strongest manifestations of the Spirit I have been privileged to take part of. When we finished, I was barely able to restrain myself emotionally, but I felt filled with spiritual power and peace. All of the people in the room – 70 missionaries stood silently, just feeling the incredible strength of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I felt like Heavenly Father used me and Elder Chamorro as conduits to teach personally the missionaries an incredible lesson. I am so grateful to Him for knowing me and using me and blessing me to have had this experience.

But to paint the picture that my life here is just a dreamlike spiritual treasure chest is only half accurate – there is always the craziness, the absolute insanity to even everything out. Saturday morning I prayed in faith my companion for the Lord to bless us with a way to take our many investigating families to the stake conference because it was just too far away to take everyone walking. We tried everything we could, and we even considered calling some horse-drawn carriages or renting a giant van with our own money.

Suddenly the bishop called, and said that as we had requested he had rented a bus for the whole ward – something that had never happened in the 10 year history of this ward. I was so grateful for the answer that came as a complete shock. Of course the story doesn’t end here – the next morning as we went around on the bus picking up members and investigators, everything was fine. Until one hour into stake conference when the sound system exploded, we didn’t get to hear the other talks that were coming by satellite from salt lake, I missed the prophets remarks because I was doing a last minute baptismal interview for a man from another city, and then instead of calming the masses, the stake president decided to end the conference 40 minutes early. (why we just didn’t have local speakers finish things off, I’ll never know).But then they decided to have a temple meeting with all the old members and so the buses had to wait with everyone inside them for about an hour. But it all worked out alright.

Sunday evening was the baptism of Carleana. Unfortunately her aunt Maria Lucia couldn’t be baptized with he because she drank coffee on Tuesday, but everything should be fine for her baptism this Saturday, and Ana and Moises in the coming weeks (step dad moises quite drinking, and now is quitting smoking). Flavio and Tamires are scheduled for this Saturday and are doing great. Simone and Cleber, the most wonderful big family had a great night on Tuesday with a ward family we took to their house, and will be baptized right after Christmas. I love our zone, our area, I love it all. I am so grateful to be here and hope and pray that I will continue in this area. Christ really is our Savior – the secret is to remember and serve Him.

Merry Christmas to all. May we study and rededicate our prayers to find the will of our Savior and align our behavior with our beliefs.

Elder Monroe

I punch with the right, he punches with the left

2007-12-05T21:41:00.000-06:00

It as if I am fighting Satan sometimes - I punch then he punches, but at least I know who will end up winning. This week he punched hard a couple of times, and it required alot of faith and patience to do the right things.

The most difficult and dirtiest punch was the one he threw at Flavio and Thamires - after passing almost 40 days without drinking, Flavio received his paycheck and was happily walking in the street telling all his friends about his baptism. His old bar friends found out and bet eachother they could make him drink. He said that they took him to the bar and hit him and made him drink, and that after he took the first sip, it was all over. He lost his months salary saturday afternoon bewtween 3 and 6 oclock in the bar. When we are arrived at his house a little after 7 to walk with him and Tamires to their baptisms, Tamires told us sadly where he was. We went and rescued him from the bar, in the middle of a group of drunk seemingly demonized men. They took pictures of us and laughed as we talked with him and walked him home. It was such a dark and ugly feeling - such a contrast from the light and peace of the Spirit. After a lot of work and a family home evening and some visits, things are better again, and Flavio and Thamires will be baptized the week before Christmas.

We had a baptism saturday night anyways- of a young lady named Lalesca, the neice of a long-time member. Lalesca got really scared the moment of the baptism, but thanks to some help from the sisters, the relief society president and her aunt, everything came through at the right moment. I believe in the power of prayer. One minute she was crying with nervousness, the next moment happy as she came out of the water, and to my disblief and shock, she shared her testimony in testimony meeting on sunday.

We had a tough week with the rest of the zone - many similar experiences of last minute tragedies with the Word of Wisdom, but i have a certainty that by following our standards and being firm about worthiness and obedience, that the Lord will bless us with much success in the weeks to come. Yesterday and monday we had a wonderful division with the Assistants to the President, Elder Chamorro and Elder Stinson. I split with Elder Chamorro this time and it was spectacular. We preached the gospel to so many wonderful families, and the spirit testifiied of the truth of our message. We finished it off with a powerful lesson with a man from the adventist church who has some doubts and is seeking answers in his life. We were respected and he really listened. The Spirit testified with much power.

I gave a training on monday about why the work we do is so difficult, based in part by a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in a MTC devotional. It was spiritual and powerful for me - suffering is a vital part of our moral experience, because as we mourn and hurt and then grow and understand, we began to truly understand the powerful atonement of our Savior and personally know the perfect love and compassion He feels for each one of His children. There is a wonderful saying in portuguese that says - everything that comes easy, goes easy. Salvation isn't cheap - and so it requires much work, much faith, many tears, but will reward us with infinite joy and miraculous power. I am so grateful for the moment that Jesus Christ suffered for me and my sins, and though I do not comprehend the intensity or how He could accomplish that task for all of humanity, I know with a surety that it really happened, and that I will be able to overcome all if I always remember and have faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ.

I love my Savior and pray that each of us and remember this principle in our individual moments of sorrow, stress and difficulty. These moments of hunger, pain and tears can become the most remembered and valued moments if we chose to learn and grow in these trials. The mission is wonderful and I am truly happy. I love all of you and am grateful for your prayers.

Sincerely,
Elder Monroe

Happy Birthday Charity!

2007-12-01T14:19:00.000-06:00

This past week was incredible. We didn’t have any baptisms, but every day and every hour I felt that we were guided by the Spirit. There were so many miracles and moments where the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ was felt by us and those whom we teach. We have rededicated our use of the Book of Mormon in our teaching – we teach about it first, before anything else, and this allows us to see who really has a desire and who reads and prays when we return. Focusing on these people who have real desire has created a teaching group so strong and spiritual that I am in disbelief. Our new house is also proving to be a miracle – our entire teaching group lives within two or three blocks of our house. I would like to tell you a little bit about these people:

Flavio and Thamires – Flavio came to church a month ago on the advice of a friend who share with him that he finally managed to quit drinking by joining the church. Flavio quit drinking, showed up a half hour early for church and hasn’t missed a Sunday since. When we invited he and his wife to be baptized, they were so happy it was like they had just been waiting for us to ask. Flavio travels a ton – last week he left sacrament meeting to go back to work and only returned Saturday night at 8:30, but he was at church again the next day. It has been difficult teaching this family, but they are so ready to follow the gospel it is amazing. Flavio got himself a white shirt, and his member friend gave him a tie. (Funny how things work, because I had given that member that same tie 2 months ago because he had said that a missionary had promised one and never gave it to him!)

Ana and Moises, Carliane and Maria Lucia – This family was a reference of the great AndyKley and Edilma, a recent convert couple that we love. The family was in severe need, and they came to church together last week, and the ward helped them out with some food this past week. (Well when I say ward, I am twisting it around a little bit – we bought 25 reais of food and took it to the relief society president’s house, who added some and took it to a visiting teachers’ house, who only had time to deliver right after the visiting teacher training meeting on Saturday, so she took 4 other visiting teachers with her). What a miracle it was to see the smiles on their faces as they came to church the following day, bringing friends, and their dad (who we didn’t even know existed). Maria Lucia quit smoking Monday night, when I asked for her cigarettes and then stomped them into dust with her help.

Meory and Jose, Jose and Maria – these two families live together. Meory is the most prepared woman I have ever met. We gave her the book of mormon Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning walking to church she told us about how people who are baptized will inherit the kingdom of God, and she would like to do that. Then Monday she told us all about how she agreed with Nefi when he killed Laban because it really was the right thing to do.

These are just three of so many wonderful families we are teaching. Carlos is a young man who is also devouring the Book of Mormon and went to church for the first time this Sunday, along with his friends Edimilson (recent convert) and Claudermice, a cousin. We visited Claudermice yesterday morning and only her mother and sister were home, and she didn’t receive us very well, so we started talking to the neighbor. All of the sudden her sister came and said that her mom wanted us to go back. Even though she had kind of snapped at me, I taken it with a lot of kindness, and 5 minutes later when we came back, she was smiling and asked if we could give her a prayer or a blessing to help her with her sick leg. We read James 5:14-15(or right around there), talked about faith, gave her a blessing and she is excited to go to church.

Antonia we found yesterday afternoon – she was a little quiet at first, but after a little discussion she opened up and told us her son had been murdered. As I taught her about the wonderful hope we receive through the plan of salvation and the justice that to her will be delivered through the atonement of Jesus Christ, I could see her burden lighten.

I talked to Geraldo Monday morning in the street and he treated me roughly, asking me where I was from like a policeman would when I asked him how his day was going. I said where I was from and then politely and humorously asked him where he was from, and he laughed and realized he had been a little rude. But he walked away and I left it at that. That afternoon I was walking down the road and felt I should not a certain door, and he answered. He didn’t recognize me because I was with a different companion (division), but this time treated us better. As we explained our belief in Christ and in the Bible, he gained confidence and trust in us and invited us in. We will return tomorrow, and at the end I told him who I was, and he laughed.

Monday morning in our training to a certain district, I felt the spirit incredibly strongly as we taught the elders and sisters how to use the Book of Mormon with more frequency and boldness. The Spirit testified of the truth of that message, and I felt the power of this all-important testimony.

15 people went to church with us this Sunday, including 3 complete families and 4 men. My joy was so complete and full I haven’t managed to thank my Heavenly Father. Monday and Tuesday in my division with Elder Alexandre, it seemed like every single person we talked to became a new investigator. I believe in miracles and in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I see vivid witnesses and repentance every day, and I know that this is the through the power of the spirit, and the choices that these prepared children of Heavenly Father are making in their efforts to return to live with him.

If you personally would like to feel this same joy and comfort that I am feeling this week, the key is to renew you efforts in reading the Book of Mormon and rediscovering your own personal testimony through prayer. Although we receive many powerful answers through prayer – the single most powerful answer that I feel, and that I see happening among our investigators, is the marvelous power of peace and calmness we obtain during our reading and study. The Book of Mormon is true.

A funny anecdote to end things – I still have a ton of work to get done on the computer to take care of the zone. So yesterday morning I woke up at about 6:10 and laid in bed thinking until the alarm went off at 6:30. I sat up and stretched for ten minutes, then went to the bathroom and went and got a drink of water from the fridge, as I lowered my head after swallowing the water, I saw it – a cockroach sitting on my chest, just below my neck, just smaller than your average cell phone. I gave a yelp and swatted it to the floor and stomped on it repeatedly. I was so traumatized I took a 20 minute shower just scrubbing myself completely with soap. But if sleeping with cockroaches is the price I have to pay for this wonderful week, I will sleep with them every night until I die.

Happy thanksgiving and Happy Birthday to my sister Charity – I’ll be honest, I didn’t even bat an eye as these dates passed and really had no idea. Sorry Charity, I love you!

Elder Monroe

flyin' down the highway

2007-11-22T11:24:00.000-06:00

Sorry for being a little down in my last email, I really am having a wonderful time here. Today I had a battle against this terrible internet connection, but I managed to upload some more photos on Costco.com. For all of you who would like to see them, just login to the coscto.com photocenter using my email, kmmonroe@myldsmail.net and the password; poway. The pictures will have to make up for the unusual shortness of this email.

So yesterday was Zone Leader Council with the President, and it was really great. We talked a lot about conversion, building the church, and how to correctly use goals. I feel like I learn so much every time I am with the President that I need another couple of months or years to figure out how to put it all in practice. We were richly blessed by the Lord this week, and we had 9 investigators at church, including two wonderful families; Flavio and Thamires and the family of Ana (a single mother with two teenage daughters). Flavio has stopped drinking and he and Thamires are preparing for their baptisms, and Ana and her family said that they loved church and we are excited to teach them the gospel. Sister Read sprained her ankle, so we spent a lot of time taking her to the hospital, arranging for transportation and splits so her companion could continue the work.

There was a funny moment when I was in the hospital, after we had finally waited for the power to come back (it was out in the whole city) so they could take an x-ray, and the doctor announced that the foot wasn’t broken but that he would give an injection and put a cast on it anyway. I was on the phone with the President and he gave that idea a definite no and I had to try and convince the doctor to let it go and that she would be alright without a cast. It was an interesting moment of negotiations – kind of like the crazy moment last week when I was negotiating with a man in Palmeira dos Ìndios about the rental of his home for the elders.
Oh there are so many things I end up doing that I never thought I would be doing in my life, or that I always had a vision of old people doing. But unfortunately I am an adult now, and have to take care of lots of adult details. Many of these experiences are teaching me of the great need to always be obedient to the commandments and to the spirit, and to love and serve with all of our might. Last week we visited a member who had returned to an old drinking problem and we were able to help him quit.

I laughed a bit this week too – laughed with joy when I saw a young man who struggled in his preparation for baptism and I was able to help him even though he wasn’t my investigator. Nego passed his third baptismal interview this last week and was finally baptized. Such a wonderful miracle.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that reading it we can come to personally know our Savior Jesus Christ. I love Brazil and I love the food here. I can’t believe all of you people are surviving without eating cuz-cuz and feijão every day. I don’t know how I will live without it.

Elder Monroe

Adoracão: Worship

2007-11-15T19:39:00.000-06:00

Adoração

Happy Day of Proclamation of the Republic! It’s a Thursday morning this time, because yesterday we were busy managing the zone interviews with President Muir. I was the last interview with President and it was wonderful – normally elders and sisters get about 9-12 minutes with the President, but my interview with the president was about 25 minutes. We conversed about many important things – how the zone is going, how the stake here is going, problems, solutions and I received wise leadership council. I felt trust and respect and mutual understanding – all sign of the presence of the Spirit.

Lately we have been undergoing some changes in the habits of our zone, and although like most changes, there are some growing pains, I think we are passing that part and getting to the part where the results are more satisfying, just as much for us as for the wards and for the Lord. Elder Delfino are working like crazy people, and it we have a new problem which is really more of a blessing than a problem. We talk with so many people each day that we are finding ourselves physically unable to accompany and follow up each person. It’s a strange predicament, but we know that if we do our part with the Spirit, we can have the confidence we are doing our best. Unfortunately we are having difficulties helping people make it to Sacrament Meeting, but lets be honest… what’s new?

Daniel Enrique de Oliveira Souza was baptized last Saturday night. Even the baptismal service was a miracle. Friday night, Daniel’s Dad had appeared out of nowhere to try and trip up Daniel’s decision, Saturday there was no water but we managed to get water out of the well to fill up the font, and then the baptism of the sisters fell through at the last moment even though everyone was super excited to be there. Just to give you an idea of what I mean when I say tough changes and growing pains – have you ever considered how it feels to conduct a baptismal interview and not authorize someone to be baptized? Even though I have had to experience this feeling about 6 times in the past two weeks, I have gained a strong testimony of obedience and the guidance of the Spirit.

I wish I had much more time to say all the other things I want to. I want to tell you about the experience last week when my companion and I ate a mediocre lunch at a barbecue lunch place. We were starving and everything was broken in our house and when 2:00 had arrived and I hadn’t eaten anything I decided we would eat out. The food was not very good, the service was terrible, and we were sitting there complaining together when a little 5 year old child came up to our table and asked if he could eat the rest of the spaghetti that was in a little bowl. My companion said of course he could, and he grabbed some noodles with his fingers and started chomping away. All of the sudden 5 more children swarmed the table, and began to attack the food.

They were all between 4 and 7 years old, skinny, dirty, barefoot and almost naked. They began grabbing all of the food left – the beans, the bones, the little bit of rice. I grabbed our cell phone and keys off the table and sat straight up in my chair, shocked and overcome with what I was seeing. They carried what was left of our food away and began fighting over the bones that had tiny scraps of meat and fat. The other table of men, offered their meat to the kids as well, but scolded the children for fighting. We paid for our food and walked home. I will never complain about food again. There we were complaining and there were children right behind me who didn’t have anything – not even someone who cared enough to take care of them and feed them.
I wanted to talk about other things too – how after a training I gave about being bold, I stopped a car on the street to talk to them, and then when I turned around, Elder Cline (who was on division with me) had stopped a semi-truck full of bricks and invited the driver and the two workers to church.

I also wanted to talk about what the word worship means. But I think I will ask you to learn on your own this week and I will talk about what I think next week. Key scriptures are in Doctrine and Covenants 20:19 and 38:40.

The Book of Mormon is true and will help us to love our Heavenly Father and follow His Son Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary and am addicted to wearing my white shirt, tie and nametag.

Have a good day of the proclamation of the republic!

Elder Monroe

Soado Mas Feliz (Sweaty but Happy)

2007-11-08T12:15:00.000-06:00

A week can change everything. A week ago i was a happy-go-lucky zone leader B, in a luxurious house with everything in it, frustrated with some things, happy with others...

Today I live in new house, with a new companion, the area is the same but the dynamic has changed completely. The good news is that i believe everything has changed for the better - i believe i will be able to grow more, speak more, teach more and we are going to work our tails off like this area has never seen.

The new house - we moved last thursday and it was pure craziness. We rented a giant truck, the new sisters arrived in the middle of the mess, and we had to take care of them, and then another truck arrived from another city with other stuff for us, and then thursday night we had a wonderful activity for the ward - couples night! It turned out fantastic. Our awesome Ward Mission Leader put it together and it was impressive, romantic and very spiritual. I was taking pictures and dared a bunch of couples to kiss for the camera, and it was hysterical. After the spiritual and fun moments, and long after we had gone home for the night, the couples stayed there and danced till midnight. What a wonderful things for our ward, it was really needing it. Oh but this paragraph was supposed to be about our new house. Our new house is good, but unique and maybe a little downright weird. First of all we don't have a bunch of basics - cups, plates, pans, closets (it was destroyed in the move), soap, sponges, lots of stuff like that. We have all the well water we want but the house is turning out to be rather dark and musty. Oh well.

The New Companion - my new companion is Elder Delfino from Sorocaba, São Paulo. He is strong (that is the nice way of saying rather large or obese in portuguese), and a great missionary. We had an awesome day of work yesterday - in missionary slang we always say destroy - that we destroyed yesterday. We found some wonderful new families to work with and the young man who will be baptized this saturday is awesome! He is smart and loves the book of mormon and is become great friends with the ward members. His name is Daniel, and it was me and Elder Stinson who stopped him in the street about two months back, and then last month he showed up at church all by himself and asked me if i remembered who he was ( i honestly didn't). I am thrilled to teach someone so ready to receive the gospel.

The new dynamic is being LZa, or the presiding zone leader. I feel able to determine a new attitude and vision for our zone, and pray that we will be blessed by the Spirit with the ability to transmit this vision and work ethic for the elders and sisters in our zone. We have been blessed with a wonderful group of missionaries, and I pray we will be able to have success in constructing the kingdom of God here.

This past week I strengthened my testimony of the importance of doing the work of the Lord in HIS way. There is a false doctrine that exists prevelantly here among many people that is, if we want something enough, God will give it to us. This is a simple misunderstanding. If we want something, and God wants it to, then it will happen. We must strive and work with the Spirit to discover His will for us, and then modify our own desires to be in unity with His eternal purposes. Then and only then will our deepest desires and needs be fulfilled and realized. He doesn't do the work for us. It is our time to sweat a little bit.

So that is what we will do here in Arapiraca. I am already sweating even though we are sitting down at the computers, but I am pretty much used to that by now. I love brasil, and am grateful for your love and prayers. I continue to pray for those affected by the fires and am grateful for the many wonderful people who are willing to give up so much to help others who are suffering.

Oh and a big congratulations to my sister Sheralie, who gave birth to her first daughter, Lucy, last thursday. Pete, her husband also deserves a congratulations. Good thing she was born thursday and not friday - all saints day is a whole lot more cheery than day of the dead.

Have a great week, and go read your scriptures.

Elder Monroe

I am finally an old missionary

2007-10-31T11:36:00.000-05:00

I think we need to lighten up and have a laugh

Signs that say you are getting to be an “old” missionary:

1. You are accustomed to saying, wow this water is cold after walking across the water in the street, because it comes right in through the quarter-sized hole in each shoe. Thank goodness my other new shoe made it to the office yesterday, now I just have to wait till it makes it to Arapiraca.

2. When your companion speaks in his sleep, he cites scriptures.

3. When you dream, you dream about finding new investigators.

4. When the new elders casually refer to “hey its like that one scene in Pirates of the Caribbean 3” and you have to remind them you haven’t seen it. Or you joke about how much you miss the new cd from coldplay and they laugh to death because the cd isn’t new anymore.

5. You consider knocking doors a great way to wake yourself up and get more excited.

6. When the office elder asks you how in the world you are going to move all of the stuff out of your house because the sisters will move in, you answer without hesitation that you will just go out in the street and flag down a donkey-drawn cart. Then he starts laughing and asking if you are serious. I am.

7. You talk to a random guy from Idaho who is vacationing in brazil and he asks you to repeat yourself because he didn’t understand your English.

Yeah these things had me laughing this morning as I made the list.This past week we had the wonderful baptism of Williames, husband of Sanderly. He chose Jailson, our awesome Ward Mission Leader to baptize him and it was a wonderful thing to see. Sunday was the primary presentation and I played the organ and I survived the experience. I think it actually turned out pretty good, which is definitely a miracle.Monday and Tuesday we did a division in our own area with the Assistants and we worked really hard and had some spectacular results.

Well hope all is well, I am praying for all of you, and especially the Wery, Oliphant, Kassell and Mangum families. I am grateful for the wonderful service being performed by the many volunteers involved in the efforts, and the service of my parents. What a blessing to see the fruits of the Restored Gospel – preparedness, charity, service and sweat. May our prayers of gratitude be as full as our prayers of need.

Elder Monroe

Pouch mail no more

2007-10-24T20:33:00.000-05:00

Thank you all for your many letters and packages. I just received a rather unfortunate email informing that church pouch-service mail to brazil has been canceled. All mail will now need to be sent directly to the mission office. Thank you!

Elder Keith M. Monroe
Av. Dom Antonio Brandão N/ 333
Edifício Work Center, Sala 402
Farol, Maceió - AL
57021-190
Brazil

I am praying for Poway

2007-10-24T20:30:00.000-05:00

The past couple of days, many people around here have been commenting to me that California was burning again, but I had no idea of the scale of the problems until I received an email from my mom this morning. My heart aches when I think of all those who are suffering, especially the families who lost so much, the Wery family, the Mangum family, the Kassel family, the Oliphant family and the many other families who lost homes and family members to the fire.

Reflecting back to the last fires, in 2003 when I too was running around busily and throwing things into my mom’s car, and driving it without almost no gas to Uncle Eric´s house, I began to think about things. Things - things are not what have most value in our lives. I understand and mourn about the loss of many things in these fires, but it is important we remember that the items of true value - eternal value, have not been lost.

Faith, family, memories and love are impossible to burn. As I work and learn to love families here, who if their homes burned, they wouldn't have anything to carry off with them, it makes me realize how much I value my family, my memories, my friends,

I ache for the Wery family, hoping that all of the assisted-living patients were able to be evacuated safely and pray that they will be able to rebuild their assisted-living center that doubled as their home. I worry for the beautiful aged couple that lived halfway up the high valley hill, in that ancient adobe home. I don't remember their names, but I remember serving them, loving them, visiting them.

There is a wonderful phrase from Preach My Gospel that says "All injustice and suffering will be made whole through the atonement" or something to that effect. I know that Christ understands how it is to live without a house, without pictures and touchable memories, and that He stands with open arms to receive those who are suffering.

This was a busy week of work here. Monday and Tuesday I worked in Palmeira dos Índios again and I loved it. Tomorrow I will work with Elder Rospirski on the other side of town. Andresa was baptized and we are helping Williames, husband of recently baptized Sanderly prepare for his baptism this friday. It is a miracle that he has begun to change and recognize the importance of family and the Savior in his life.

I hope and pray for all of you. Our Heavenly Father knows what He is doing. We must trust Him and then do the best we can.

Elder Monroe

Runaway

2007-10-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

About ten days ago we were walking down the street early in the morning and a former investigator called to us so we stopped to answer her question. She asked if we new anything about the kid who had been abducted in the mormon church.... and we suddenly got really worried. She said that she had heard about in on the radio – that a kid had been abducted in the church or was trapped in there since Sunday night.

Not knowing what to do, or what was going on, the first thing we did was go to the chapel. It didn’t have anyone locked in or anything unusual so we went and asked a couple of members, and then when more and more people started talking to us in the road, the story unraveled. It turns out that a 13 year old boy from our ward named Cristiano had gone missing. He is a recent convert of my good friend Elder Urano who served here about 6 months ago, and was baptized along with his whole family. They are wonderful and humble, but have many struggles with their poverty and the education of their children. Cristiano especially runs around like a crazy kid before, during and after all church meetings in the church and it is very difficult to try and help him. Many people criticize him, and I doubt that he receives any positive attention or one-on-one time. He is a pretty naughty kid too, so its tough to fault any one in particular.

He left home Sunday morning in his Sunday clothes, saying that he was going to the stake center for general conference, and nobody ever saw him again. He has disapeared before, but had always showed up a day or two later, having slept at a friends house or a relative. On Wednesday his mom was worried and went to talk to the bishop, who wasn’t home, so the bishop’s wife recommended that she go to the radio to announce he was missing. I think this was the big mistake. Josefa, Cristiano’s mom went to the radio and was very badly interpreted or misunderstood or taken-advantage –of. The announcement and the way everyone gossiped and spread it out was that the “mormons” had abducted a child. You can imagine the problems this created with the people in our area.

Well to make a long story short, after many days of searching, his parents had pretty much given up. Yesterday afternoon we were in Maceio walking from the stake center to the bus station, over an enormous bridge that crosses the grota (where someone had just jumped to their death), when all of the sudden I saw the head of cristiano sticking out of the bus that was stopped at the light. I ran to the window and spoke with him, asking him what he was doing, where he was staying, that his family was worried sick. Elder Freitas was behing me a little bit carrying a big box of materials, but he ran over and we told Cristiano to exit the bus and go home with us. He listened but didn’t show any response. The bus drove away. I had managed to find out more or less where he was staying.

We walked up the hill to the bus station and when we were in line buying the tickets, his little brown face with dirty hair and dirty clothes appeared outside the window. We went out and begin to speak more with him, and he began to cry. He was scared of going home, scared of being beaten, scared of everything and very hungry and dirty. I gave him the big box of material and said we needed his help taking it home, and he followed obediently and boarded the bus with us and the other 10 elders and sisters returning to Arapiraca. I sat with him the whole way home (a 2.5 hour trip) and tried to talk with him.

I bought him tapioca and then cupuaçu. (well tapioca is kind of like a tortilla made out of potato with coconut in the middle, and cupuaçu is a rather unexplainable fruit – think sour, creamy, applesauce with kiwi juice). We called the ward mission leader and he called the ward counselor who went to cristiano´s family´s house to advise them and help them receive him with love. By the time we arrived on foot with Cristiano at his house it was 8:40 at night but the entire family was there. I was so happy by the way they received him – he insisted that we stop and buy bread so he could arrive home with bread for his mom for her not to be mad. Among many families here, the culture of touch and affection is very different. He wasn’t hugged by anyone, in fact there was no touch involved, but everyone was smiling, and even though it is a dirt floor and we hopped the last 20 yards from rock to rock in the mud to get to the front gate, it was his home, and he was happy to be there.

This was one of the most unique experiences of my life and of my mission, and caused a lot of reflection as i sat next to him on the bus, my briefcase on my lap and my legs against the seat just in case he decided he wanted to run, watching him sleep against the window. As we passed by the empty postcard beaches and then the broken countryside, the sun set was framed by the silhouttes of dead trees and the stench of rotten sugar cane and the song “The Prayer of the Children”played relentlessly in my mind.

I am grateful for the marvelous hope that we find in the trust and belief of the resurrection. I am confident in the eternal justice and mercy that will be provided by the atonement. There are so many who suffer and hurt and are not able to live the truth because they do not no wher e to find it, or have been created in a culture that has made them almost impossibly able to receive it. Yet all miracles are possible. Our loving Father knows each of our situations, and our loving Savior has felt exactly what we feel. He knew where the dirty, skinny, runaway boy was in a busy city of hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of buses, and put Cristiano in front of me, one of the two only people in that city who knew who Cristiano was and who he trusted enough to follow. What Cristiano did was to recognize he was wrong, and trust those who he knew could help him to come home. Our task is no different

Eita correria da feira! (oh the hurry of the market)

2007-10-10T21:23:00.000-05:00

Well the crazy life of being zone leader bit back this week. I wrote last tuesday, wednesday we had our interviews with the President and I translated/assisted in Sister Muir´s area book chats, thursday we went to Penedo and I came back with Elder Logan (a brand new american) and then split with Elder Silva and we ran around Arapiraca doing baptismal interviews (between us and my comp we did 10 thursday night). Friday morning my comp came back from penedo and then we switched with the elders from palmeira dos indios so elder cline and i could go to maceio to renew our vistas which had expired since july. i have given up trying to fight the shift button on this keyboard, so this message will not have any more capitalized letters.

friday in maceio was wonderful - eating lunch with a bunch of elders i hadn't seen in about a year or many months. things went really slow working with the federal police because they were on strike, so it took the whole day. i had great chats with elder brown, elder olson, elder dance and got to know sister read better. about 4:30 i realized that our baptism in arapiraca would start at 7 and that we had to book it. the bus takes too long so we grabbed a taxi to the futhest neighborhood in maceio and there we got in a little fast van where you travel cramped, but save about a half an hour. we got to area just in time, and it was wonderful to be there. sanderly was baptized along with anaelson. it was a great moment for them and for us. afterwards we didn't send elder cline and his comp home because of safety issues (we don't travel at night here). so they spent the night at our house and took off early saturday morning.

Saturday and Sunday were crazy because we decided that we wanted to see all of the sessions of conference (which means we had to take investigators with us to all 5 sessions). The stake center is about an hour walk from the homes of our investigators, so it was a really tough sell, but we managed alright.

conference was absolutely marvelous. it was a wonderful spiritual experience. we got there early for the first session, wanting to see the new apostle and who would be the new counselor in the first presidency. but due to technical difficulties, the satellite got up and running at the end of Elder Boyd K. Packer´s talk. we listened to everyone trying to figure out who the new apostle was. Elder Monson gave away a little bit, congratulating elder eyring in his new calling, but we didn't hear him say elder cook´s name, i heard clearly the name of elder gonsalvez, who until august was our area president. so everyone thought that he had been called as the new apostle, which was incredible, seeing as talked with him in late june back in the gurguri branch. then in the closing prayer someone prayed specifically for elder cook, that he could understand his new calling, and i knew it had to be him.

I´ll be honest, i cried quite a few times during conference - especially on saturday when there were only a few people in the stake center, and it was quite and reverent (the most reverent moment i had felt since being in the temple over a year ago). Some of the moments that most touched me - seeing elder wirthlin continue with all of his strength as he talked about love, hearing sister beck´s marvelous talk in her own voice (she prerecorded it and her portuguese is very good - just has a hint of spanish accent in it, which means she probably recorded in spanish as well and thus spoke to more than 80% of the church in her own voice), hearing the talk of my beloved south american leaders - elder costa, elder gonsalvez and elder civic. Elder Holland´s talk was bold and corageous, and president hinckley´s preisthood session adress was powerful and astute. I loved general conference like i have never loved it before, and the chance to sit in an air conditioned, quiet place to worship and be edified was a wonderful, refreshing experience.

Monday was a normal work day, except for my companion getting sick, tuesday we traveled to maceio, again, this time for the council of the leaders of zones, hmmmmm that is how it is in portuguese. it was fantastic, with a training from president muir about church protocol and respect for the priesthood. my respect and admiration for my president has grown tremendously recently, as i have had more oppurtunities to be trained and receive his council.

Today was fun as we played soccer with the zone and then brabecued up some meat and pork steaks, which was a A+ in my book. things are just great in arapiraca, and i hope we can get some good work done in these next three days. its funny because i always had imagined that in my mission i would have tons of time to sit and read the scriptures and study with my companions, but there is so much things we do and have to do and places to go, that is seems rare to have a quiet moment with the scriptures. Its something that i am beginning to value more, and striving to create these oppurtunities, even if its at 10:00 at night or in the bus or wherever it may be. We also have wonderful learning experiences as we serve, whether it be other elders, members or the millions of God´s children who need our help.

the gospel of jesus christ is true, and is the true answer to all of our problems and worries. the culmination of the gospel´s power is its ability to cure, heal and comfort, and this power if available always, but specifically and powerfully ready for us each moment we take the sacrament. may we ponder and pray and feel the peace in that moment, even if we are sweating, the kids are screaming and we are worried about the investigators, the members and the talks and all of that other stuff. Those who know do less things, the more important things. Thats something i got from from elder packer´s and sister beck´s talks.

Gotta run again - english class tonight and then a family night with our investigators at a recent converts house. wahoo!

elder monroe

Confessions of a Joselito

2007-10-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

Well after 8 weeks with my companion, we are finally really good friends. I am not saying that we weren't friends until now, but it is really only after about two months of living with someone that you finally understand them. We had a terrific week of work and sunday morning was a success- 10 investigators at church! We are working with some wonderful people who are finally ready for their baptisms.

Sanderly made some sacrifices this past sunday to go to church, and it looks like the time we went and helped them move two weeks ago made a difference in our relationship with her and her husband Williames. They trust us a lot more, and are making good progress. Tomorrow night we will have a Family Home Evening in their new home with two other young couples from the ward, and if everything continues (with lots of faith) Sanderly will be baptized on Friday.

Also on track is a young man named Anaelson who has made some serious changes in his life and is realizing in a very vivid way that when he obeys the commandments of God, he is blessed. He came here to live with his uncle (a recent convert) about two months ago, and started going to church, quit his old life of messing around and started to read the Book of Mormon every day. Within a week, he finally found a job and everything was going well. With the newfound success Anaelson forgot a little bit about who had helped him, and he didn't go to church for a couple of weeks, quit reading, and we were having a tough time teaching him and helping him make progress.

All of the sudden he lost his job and his friend was killed and he found himself in the same position as before - desperately needing the help of Heavenly Father. This time Anaelson is more determined, this past sunday he went to church and the the funeral of his freind, and is excited to be baptized and receive the help of God and the Holy Ghost. We are working with a few other families, but most of them fell of the boat this past sunday and we will have to see if we can get them excited about general conference this weekend.

For those of you reading this who are not members of the church, an apology for whipping around so many "mormon" terms without there explanations. General Conference this saturday and sunday will be our oppurtuity to hear the words of modern revelation, that God communicates to His prophet and apostles here and now. This weekend will be a sacred and defining moment. Heavenly Father will give us counsel, warnings, wisdom and love. Each of us will have the oppurtunity to listen and hear, feel and do. Unfortunately, many will listen, but few will hear. Many will feel but few will do. Each of us has to make a decision, prepare ourselves spiritually and then remember and realize the counsel we will be given. I am so grateful for the opportunity to hear living, wise prophets and apostles who will give us the Word of God as it has been revealed for us in our own day.

Some of you might be wondering who joselito and what his confessions have to do with anything. Joselito is me. Joselito is the name of a rather stupid idiot who made himself famous on brazilian tv by showing how stupid he was. Now that my compaion knows me well and observes my habits and personality, he enjoys calling me joselito when i do something stupid, and for those of you who really know me, you'll know its more often than my misleading organized, civilized image suggests. (well at least I like to think I have this image, but I think the reality is my joselitoness is more evident than I had previously imagined).

I am a joselito when I: leave the door open, the iron on, the sink dripping, say something stupid in a ward or district meeting, trip myself on the street, forget to call the Mission President when its my turn, mess up my desk, forget to put salt when I cook food and sugar when I make the juice.

I am glad my companion is helping my un-joselito-size myself. Our first project is to fix the way that I walk. I've been told that I walk like an elephant, a cowboy, those african women who have fifty metal rings on their necks and practically bounce down the street. I identified the problem as being my unnaturally sized steps. I believe I started taking large steps when i was 11 or 12 because I wanted to be more like my dad, who is taller than me and so naturally takes larger steps. Being that I never really grew as tall as I expected or wished, (well my arms did but my height never caught up), I got left with this large step that makes me bounce as i walk. Now that i have the custom to walk alot faster, i think the problem has been magnified. Its one thing to bounce a little as you walk in sandals from the parking lot into the school, but when you go fast and you walk 5-10 miles a day, its a lot uglier of a picture.

For those of you who have previously mentioned this problem to me, thank you for having courage to tell me about it, and sorry that i never listened or i denied it. Here people are a bit more blunt, and I have heard quite a bit about my goonish way of walking. (Particularly from Williames, Sanderly´s husband who likes to play around with everyone). So this week, for the first week of my life, I have tried to the maximum to walk like a normal human being. I try and match the steps of my companion who is a little bit shorter than me (but i figure its best to try and overfix the problem than to underfix). My confession is that it has been excruciatingly difficult, but I have made considerable progress.

So there you have it, the first confession of a Joselito. When you think about it, the whole notion that we can change who we are is one of the most important realities we have to understand. Our character is composed of thousands of daily choices we often make without realizing it. We have each been given a distinct personality, genetic identity and family and cultural temperament, but in the end, it will be our own decisions what will determine our future, our character and our eternal destiny. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of faith and repentance. Repentance is change. We have to change - its a fact. Whether its changing the way you walk, the way you talk or getting rid of those habits that have held you back for years, its worth it to give it a shot. Who knows, you just might take a little bit of the joselito out of yourself too!

Elder Monroe

The King of Cake!

2007-09-26T11:40:00.000-05:00

Well I have only a little bit of time today because we had to resolve a bunch of problems, and I had to report everything in my email to the Mission President. Not to mention the fact that the computer deleted it the first time and I had the great pleasure of typing it all again.

The most smashing success this week was the activity we organized, the King of Cake! We had between 100-120 people at the activity, around 20 investigators and 30-40 less active members, so we were pretty happy. The men brought 8 or 9 cakes that turned out decent (well most of them did), and there were even a couple delicious ones. We made our cake as fast as possible that afternoon – it was a double cake, chocolate on bottom, coconut on top with a filling in the middle of sweetened condensed milk with sweet coconut (made by yours truly). We doused the cakes with coconut milk and let it seep in then covered it all with chocolate fudge frosting and decorated with more coconut and dripped sweetened condensed milk. It sure looked delicious. The night of the event we rearranged the benches in the chapel (it serves as a multi-purpose space) and we closed the curtains and put down a red carpet in the middle and hooked up the microphone.

Everyone arrived except the men and the cakes and the bishop and the soda, which gave us a pretty big heart attack. It was supposed to start at 7, but at 7:30 there was still no sign of the bishop and we had about 4 cakes and 80 people. I was sweating and praying and decided to go in front and keep the crowd happy. So I played “simon says” which I renamed “my mom said” because it sounds better in Portuguese, with 80 people and they loved it and then we started without the bishop. I gave a message about how we can all be kings and queens in heaven if we follow the recipe that God gave us in the scriptures.

We made a big show and paraded the cakes all around and pumped everyone up, with lots of clapping and great funny commentary by my companion. We called up 5 less/active or investigating women to be the judges (as previously combined with the Relief Society President). At 8:15 the bishop walked in the door with his cake, and we began the judging. He didn’t have the soda but sent someone to get it, and it all worked out in the end, except when the kids went crazy with all the cake and we ran out. I think we had some kids that didn’t eat but then again I don’t know how so many of them appeared out of nowhere.

The judges were about to crown us as the cake kings but I intervened and said we couldn’t win because it would look really bad if we won our own activity. They understood and crown the second best cake, made by a young man named Lucas, which funnily enough was almost the same as ours (chocolate and coconut). Here there is a candy bar called Prestigio which is like this, kind of like mounds, and so that is what he called his cake. We didn’t want to call our cake the same name, so we presented it as a Californian cake with Mineiro filling (my companion is from the state of Minas Gerais, and therefore “Mineiro”, which literally means a “miner”).

Monday and Tuesday were the first days that I worked normal days in MY area with MY companion in about 2 weeks. And I really enjoyed it. We are having trouble helping people go to church. We have lots of people that would like to be baptized, love us, but they don’t understand really the importance of living the gospel or worshiping weekly in church. This is the most difficult obstacle we face in this area.I have been studying some scriptures that talk about the importance of the little things. It is the small habits and decisions that we make daily that end up defining our character. It is in the small things that the Enemy (that’s how we refer to Satan in Portuguese) tries to trip us and catch us without us noticing. Thus we must watch ourselves constantly and give ourselves time for reflection and pondering to be able to realize what we need to change. These moments of prayer and pondering don’t just happen, we have to make them happen.

Even when I am traveling to different cities every day, interviewing 10-15 people preparing for baptism, teaching the whole day about Jesus Christ and trying to follow the Spirit’s guidance, I still have to create time where I can sit, kneel, think, pray and evaluate. Without these moments, our growth will be inevitably slowed. These are the moments when we receive revelation, guidance and feel peace and love. These are the moments in which we have communion with the Holy Spirit. I pray that each of you and I may recognize, plan and create these opportunities today and every day, that we may be able to receive everything that our Father in Heaven is only waiting to give us. May we trust in the covenants of the Almighty and continue in His work.

Elder Monroe

Splits

2007-09-19T20:53:00.000-05:00

The wonderful peculiarities of the Brazilian northeast.

There is something perplexing and interesting that I wanted to try to explain to all of you, but I will probably only make a dent in the subject today. When you read me emails of how things are here in Alagoas, it would be a grave error to interpret these things as to how things are in the country of Brazil as a whole. Let’s face some facts; citizens of one country are most likely to be interested in the geography and culture of their own nation. Americans in particular enjoy a very expansive and diverse culture, and as this culture already provides music, food and entertainment that more than suffice our needs, we are not apt to learn about the culture and geography of other nations.

For example, how many of you can tell me about how many states there are in Canada, or why and when and how or if they separated from England? Here there is a unit on American history, but do you think we did a unit on Brazilian history? I am not trying to slam the US or anything, but just trying to fix some misconceptions about my beloved Brazil. Brazil is not a giant rainforest of a country. It is about as diverse, large and complicated as the US itself. The south of Brazil is a different world from the north. The food, culture, people and language I work with is very different than that Melanie has experienced.

Generally, the Brazilian northeast is regarded by most Brazilians as the armpit of Brazil. I am here in Alagoas, which you can think of as more or less of the Alabama or Arkansas of Brazil. It’s the poorest state, the most corrupt state, the most illiterate state …. I think you get the general idea.

I will address this topic more on another day, because the cultural differences here will get some great laughs from all of you, but I think I better talk a little bit about the work and the gospel and how we are doing.Someone asked about the interviews and divisions I am always doing and what that means. As zone leaders we do divisions (we switch companions for 24 hours) with all of the district leaders and their companions. I normally work in the area of the district leader with his junior companion, observing the district at work and preparing to give better trainings in our zone conferences, and giving one on one help. Its fun working in a new area every week and meeting new elders and getting to know them. It is interesting meeting many many many investigators and trying to help in their conversions. We also put a lot of emphasis in helping the elders find new investigators, and normally I have to do that a lot, try and get some fire going in the areas.

The training we are currently emphasizing is about the necessity to do a balanced work. It is very common for elders and sisters to spend a week or two finding investigators, another two or three weeks teaching them, and then there is a week or two with the baptisms. Its like a 6 week cycle that just repeats over and over. We are trying to help everyone learn to have the same work every week – work hard finding people, work hard teaching people, work hard helping people prepare for baptism. It just requires a lot of attention and planning to do this kind of work, but it is definitely the better way and the way to help a much greater number of people experience the joy of conversion.

When we go to do interviews, we mean to say the baptismal interviews of the district leaders. Friday we are off to Penedo again to do more interviews. I love doing baptismal interviews – it’s a one on one conversation about faith, repentance, baptism, the commandments and testimony. Granted that the levels of these interviews vary greatly – from an 9 year old girl to a 40 yr old mother, to a 25 year old businessman, but the gospel, the questions and the spirit is always the same.

It is wonderful feeling like I am able to help in these situations when I am able to help resolve doubts and worries and give the extra push some people need to make the big step into the waters of baptism. I have no doubt of the wonderful strength that comes from moving forward in faith even when Satan is fighting against us.In our own area, we had the chance to do a division with the assistants to the president (our leaders) Monday and Tuesday. It was a great. We cooked up a Feijoada with them after our work Monday night, and it was a very intense work period with a lot of great things accomplished.

My English class is going well, and normally brings in about 3 or 4 new investigators every time, with about 8 other investigators and 10 members present. Please pray for Williames and Sanderli (sun-der-LY) the family we are working with. They are having problems in their marriage, but our making the changes necessary to let the light of the gospel in. We are also working with the family of Daniel. He is a faithful English class attender and devoured the first lesson. Wahoo!

I am happy and healthy and terrific. Tonight and Thursday I will do a division in yet another area and Friday we will do interviews in Penedo, so I will be back to work here in my area on Saturday. Thursday night I will also be here, and we will have the activity we have been planning and talking about for a month. THE KING OF CAKE!!! All of the men of the ward will make cakes without the help of their wives, and then a jury of women will taste the cakes and we will crown the king, and then we will eat tons and tons and tons of cake. Everyone is excited. I will let you know how it goes. Wahoo!

I am learning that perhaps the most difficult Christ-like attribute is that of constance. God is always loving, He is always working, He always listens to our prayers and He is always just. We manage to be almost of all these things, but just once in a while. Perhaps the secret is to pray always, because the question of us being constant is more a question of us remembering our true purpose and fulfilling our eternal desires rather than those of the moment. I am grateful for the never-ending patience of our Eternal Father and for the chance to serve Him.

-Elder Monroe

Churrasco é bom

2007-09-12T19:54:00.000-05:00

Well,

Hard to believe another week hás flown by. I will just kind of pick up where i left off last week. Thursday we went to zone conference in maceio, and when we arrived i found out that i would be conducting the meeting, which made me a little bit nervous. Or a lot bit nervous. I survived, and only forgot a couple of things from the pulpit, but it turned out fine. We gave a training in the zone training segment about elephants. No really it was about working more effectively in our areas, but it was fashioned around a metaphor about elephants. I will have to explain later.

We got back home in arapiraca 8 pm, and left the next morning 7 am for penedo to do interviews, house and lan-house inspections. We made it back in time to find out our lunch appointement had fallen through, a meeting with the ward mission leader, a little bit of work in our area and then we headed off to the other side of town to do more interviews. Saturday we worked the morning, lunch fell through again, we tried to meet up and do splits but that didn’t work so we had to go us two to another neighborhood again and do more interviews. I was feeling sick and elder freitas´ foot was bleeding so we took two moto-taxis there and back. I love moto-taxis, it is pretty much the most exciting thing that happens around here.

We made it back in time for our own baptism of joyce, the neice of a member that we have been working with. It was very nice. Sunday morning was tough because i was feeling terrible and so was my companion, and then to make matters worse, nobody wanted to come to church again. Considering that i hadn’t really been here the whole week to teach and meet our new investigators i felt like the situation was a bit out of my control, but it still was tough and a little dissapointing. I was not feeling good at all and worried about missing more work, so we went home early Sunday night i took a ton of medicine and went to bed. Monday morning i woke up healthy, which i am very grateful for. Monday and tusday were great because i got to work in our own area. Wahoo! Tuesday night we had english class and 18 people came and afterwards integrated with some ping pong games.

Today was pday and we had a zone barbecue at our house which was fun and we have enough leftovers to eat for two weeks without having to cook.

I studied the book of enos this week learning about how to obtain personal revelation. It was very enlightening. I remember dad always wanting to read Enos whenever we went camping. You already know what he wants to read if we are out in the outdoors. I remembered that vividly as i read and contemplated and it was very meaningful. I also enjoyed without a doubt the best talk on faith i have ever read which is elder bednar´s talk in the september liahona. Faith as a form of exercising knowledge, hope and trust by making an action is something i learn here every day. We won’t know if it is the lord whispering in our ear until we start obeying those feelings and being bold in our obedience. Little by little we began to really trust and really listen, and then suddenly we can see how much we were guided by His Hand. May each of us stop to listen and ponder and feel a little bit more.

Thanks everyone for the great letters and emails,
Elder Monroe

Have miracles ceased?

2007-09-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

Well for those of you familiar with the writings of Moroni, you will know pretty quickly the answer to this question. The answer is NO! Neither have angels ceased to minister among the children of men. And if they have ceased, its because of the lack of faith among the children of men. If we desire miracles, what is required of us is true faith and a firm mind in the things of Godliness. (Moroni 7:29, 30)

This week we learned a lot about miracles. There weren’t so many that we recognized in our work or in our area, though I am sure many occurred. So many things happened this week I decided to give you the play-by-play rundown:

Tuesday was p-day but only until 4pm. We hit the road early because we had an appointment in another interior town called “Lagoa da Canoa” or lake of the canoe. We went with a member named Severino who wanted us to visit a family that are friends of his. There are a couple members of our ward who live in this town, even though its about 30 min away. When we arrived there, to our surprise, there were about 10 thousand people marching down the highway – it was the 45 year birthday of the town, and the parade was incredible. The bus couldn’t get through so we went on foot through the parade until we made it into the town. We walked all the way to the family´s house, but of course they weren’t home, they were somewhere in the parade. It was more funny than frustrating, and it was good to see the interior again. The culture is so rich and vibrant. So we made the long walk back, took the bus back and worked in our own area.

Wednesday was zone council in Maceio. We traveled all morning, had a wonderful meeting with the other zone leaders, and assistants and the presidente during the afternoon at the president’s house, and then a long bus ride back home at night. It was great seeing elder brown, elder urano and elder peay. Being that I am the newest, youngest, lz, I got to practice in front of everyone, but it went alright. I really enjoyed the training and the teachings of the president. It was a spiritual feast. We learned about Dan Jones, who is now one of my favorite people of all time.

Thursday Elder Freitas was sick, so we planned during the morning and worked in the afternoon and evening.

Friday we did a full day split with two brethren of the ward. We got so much work done it was amazing. I worked with a recent convert who didn’t know anything, but was excited to stop everyone and invite them to church, so it was a fun experience. We found a bunch of new investigators, but unfortunately none of them went to church. Elder Freitas had to run around doing more baptismal interviews, but we managed to get everything done.

Saturday morning we took care of our baptismal interviews, the baptismal font, Saturday afternoon we ran around confirming with all the people we had visited Friday. Saturday night was the baptism of Cassia, the little sister of the recent convert I had split with on Friday.

Sunday was tough. Nobody came to church. It’s quite a let down to have a teaching group of about 50, and have 5 come to church, but that’s life. I played the organ and pumped up the volume to the max and it helped the congregation sing a little better. It was a fast and testimony meeting and it was honestly really really good. Too bad our investigators missed it! (or should I say former investigators for a bunch of them). Unfortunately everyone has free agency to choose to be lazy sometimes. Oh well, we got really happy with the people that did come. Sunday afternoon was tough – ward council was a struggle because the leaders were having trouble getting along, but then Sunday night was good because our zone had a lot of success and our weekly calling sessions were good.

Monday morning we woke up and caught the van to Palmeira dos Índios (on your maps its west of arapiraca, almost in the mountains, and almost in Pernambuco. We had a good district meeting with them and I did a 24 division with Elder Wurtz of Los Alamitos, CA. It was fun, he is a new elder who doesn’t speak well but is sure excited to try. We found some new investigators for them, and I loved seeing the city. It’s stretched out on a big hill overlooking a huge valley. It’s very strong in its catholic tradition, but because it’s in the interior, the people treat you well even if they’re not that interested. I enjoyed being able to teach and train and help the work. We had to do inspections of the house and I had to approve their internet usage places which was kind of funny. It just felt weird to know that they cleaned their house just cause they knew I was coming.

Tuesday morning elder Wurtz and I made the trip back to arapiraca and I worked the afternoon and evening with elder freitas again. Last night I taught my first English class here, which had 15-20 students including 8 investigators. I love teaching English. English is ridiculous because it refuses to follow the rules, but oh well. Just be glad you were born speaking it.

Today is Wednesday, pday, tomorrow we go back to Maceio for zone conference, but this time with all of our elders and sisters. I think I am spending more time out of my area than in it – next week we will have two more divisions, and then the other week we will have divisions with the assistants, but at least it will be here in our area.I got a cold in Palmeira dos Índios, because the weather keeps doing this random jungle heat and then kind of cold thing when it rains. But other than that, everything is going great. The work keeps going and sorry that this seemed more like a travel log than a mission blog.

Next week I will give the lowdown on the investigators we are working with and how they are doing. This week, I really didn’t see them much.Miracles happen, as Moroni says and that one music from Princess Diaries reminds us.

If they aren’t happening to you:
1. you aren’t recognizing them
2. you have weak faith

Just kidding. I love you all. I am sure you all have faith. Lets just trust in the Lord, because I have been reading His book and it seems like He always knows what He’s doing.

Elder Monroe

P.S. Those of my friends who went and got themselves married without at least letting me know or sending an invitation … (Rebekah, Roxanne, Alyssa…) best of wishes.

Macaxeira frita faz bem

2007-08-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

Well it’l be a quick one today. P-day was going to be tomorrow, but we are taking it today because tomorrow we are traveling to Maceio for Zone Leader council. I am excited to see former friends and companions – Elder Brown, Elder Urano and Elder Peay.

We´ve been busy here, working in our own area and also in the areas of the other elders. Lets see, last pday we played soccer at the stake center which was awesome. I made a goal and then played decently as a defender. Thursday was a normal working day, Friday we planned during the morning, in the afternoon we took the van to Penedo to do some baptismal interviews. Those were good, but I got disappointed that I didn’t see the Rio São Francisco which is a huge river real close. The bus disspeared after the interviews and we were stuck there until almost 6pm. We caught another van back to Arapiraca and then walked to the other elders´areas to do more interviews. It started raining and we didn’t have our umbrellas, but we kept working.

We finally got home and we were wet and cold and starving so we made fired macaxeira, which is kind of like potato wedges and it was really really really good. Saturday was some good work but then the young lady who had her baptism planned wasn’t able to make it because she traveled to visit her grandma and everything went wrong.

Sunday was ward conference which was great. We had 14 investigators there, and I played the organ and helped with the ward choir. Wahoo! Yesterday we gave training to another district and today is already pday. Wahoo. I love working and hope we will have more time one of these days to keep working in our own area.

Well I am happy, healthy and terrific. And I don’t have that much more to say. Rice and Beans are good. The scriptures are even better.

Jacob 2:18-20

Elder Monroe

The Most Faithful Writer of Them All

2007-08-22T21:32:00.001-05:00

Ola Minha Querida Família e Amigos,

Well, well, well, another week has rocketed by here in Arapiraca. It was a good and fun one for me and Elder Freitas. Our ward is extremely functional – everyone does their visiting and home teaching, we have ward missionaries that visit and teach the recent converts, we have a nice little chapel… its great to see everything working. I am not saying that the ward is perfect, but it is a good one.

The zone responsibilities are fun and exciting. Like I may have mentioned, our mission is shrinking like the value of the dollar. It looks like we too have stabilized. We used to have 180 missionaries and now we will hover around 130, so tons of areas went from 4 or 6 elders to 2. Our zone used to be 2 zones with 8 districts, to now 1 zone with 3 districts. For those of you inclined to google a map of Alagoas, we have 2 elders in Penedo, 4 in Palmeira dos Ìndios and 8 elders and 2 sisters here in Arapiraca.

This morning was interviews with the President, and we had to arrive early and leave late and handle everything. Its been fun getting to know a lot of knew people and seeing a lot of areas. We haven’t traveled yet, but it looks like we will get to travel a bit. Penedo is a little less than a 2 hour bus ride, Palmeira too. (so I hear).

Someone that is definitely deserving recognition is my Grandma Monroe, who is officially the most faithful writer of them all. Thanks Grandma for the great letters and the awesome Star Wars stamps. I didn’t die my hair like Mel-bel, but my comp and I did buy ridiculous matching ties to use next week in the Zone Leader Counsel. They are green and orange striped.

Well time is out because we are going to play soccer with the zone, and interviews took forever. My Book of Mormon reading took a couple day lull with the move and the fact that I misplaced my red pencil. Without my red pencil I became incapable of reading my livro de mormon so I switched to studying part of the white bible that talks about leadership. It was good but after a couple of days I missed the book of mormon so much. I finally found my pencil yesterday and it was awesome finishing up 2 nefi. I have to book it to try and keep up with my goal.

Go read it!

Elder Monroe

Arapiraca

2007-08-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

Well fam, its been a shocking week. Really there’s never a dull moment here in Alagoas. As I had anticipated, I was transferred out of Ramo Gurguri and am now in Ala Verdes Campos (Ala is Portuguese for WARD). My first time in a ward, and I am excited. Seems like the members are real excited about the work and they even do their Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching visits!!!!!!!!! My new companion is Elder Freitas from Minas Gerais (that’s where Brazilian cheese comes from). We are zone leaders over the Arapiraca Zone, which covers southern and inland Alagoas.

Elder Frietas is incredible. I don’t mean to speak in any way ill of my companions, but this is the first time that I feel like I am standing next to a spiritual giant. I am junior again, and this companion knows everything. It’s so wonderful to follow someone who does everything right and has immense experience and great power in obedience. I feel a little overwhelmed about being a zone leader, but my companion gives me confidence that the Spirit will guide us in doing the Father’s will.

So, Arapiraca. It’s like the Santee/Lakeside metropolitan area, but you would have to take that area and put it where El Centro is, and include in the zone branches in Ramona, and Yuma. It has a very different feel than my past areas. The roads are very organized and clean, our house is gigantic. There were 6 elders working here and living in this house, but because of many factors, our mission is in a temporary drought of elders. So we have a lot of area to cover and live in a house with 6 beds, 3 tables, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, tons of space… It is very, very cool. I have my own bathroom!

It was tough leaving Ramo Gurguri, but I can honestly say that I was ready. It was difficult to say goodbye to many people, especially, Cleber, Jefferson, Leo, Jo and the family of Conceição. But it was right – it is necessary that they grow and develop and that I learn new things and new places. I am excited for the new place and new capacity to serve. I had knocked more than one door and the person responded and I realized I had already taught or talked with that person. Not that there is anything wrong about talking to someone twice, but when they’ve already rejected you once, its difficult to have the same enthusiasm to help them with the gospel. But everyone has their time, that’s why we never quit.

I gave an impromptu talk and we sang an impromptu musical number in sacrament meeting. Both went well and it was special to get a last chance to preach the gospel at a wonderful group of people that I love. Pray for Melanie that she can get 100% healthy and that she can trabalhar até o pó. Hahaha brazilian missionary joke, hahaha.

I am happy and well. Go read your scriptures. Elder Monroe

Its the rainy season and it just keeps raining.

2007-08-08T20:28:00.000-05:00

You know you have been in an area 6 months when…

- you knock someone’s door and they come answer it and you realize you’ve already personally taught them or invited them to church. That happened twice this past week.

- your relationship with members and recent converts changes completely. I am sure Melanie can attest to this one. I have been here so long, and seen 7 other elders come and go, but I am still here working with the same members. I have seen growth and change in them and their families, some for the better, some for the worse.

- I know everyone. We can’t get on the bus without me knowing someone – a member, an investigator, a former investigator… its funny but good. I know the guy here at the Lan house (internet café), the people at the supermarket (more like mini-market), the owner of our house, the lady at the copy shop, the guy at the sandwich shop (he delivers at night, and when we call him I just have to say “hey I want a x-tudo for the missionaries” and he knows the rest.

- the highs get higher and the lows get lower. Because of the very different relationship I enjoy with many people here and the love I feel for them, when something great happens or they progress in an area where we have contributed to their development, I feel great. When something tough happens, it is also tough for us. This was a wonderful but tough week. There were wonderful highs, and devastating lows.The highs of course included some wonderful baptisms on Saturday. Leo, the 15 year old brother of Wilkison, Wedja, Soraia and Raquel (recent converts) was finally baptized. It only took 4 months, but finally he felt the desire and made the changes necessary in his life. Also, two of their cousins were baptized, Alexandre and Luana. The district had a great week, it was the first week where all of the companionships baptized. That meant a lot of interviews for me. Balancing 9 baptismal interviews into my schedule along with trying to take care of our 3 baptismal candidates, and our group of investigators was quite a challenge. It was a lot of walking.

One of the most spiritual moments for me was in the interview of a young lady who I had interviewed previously. She didn’t pass her previous interview because of some serious sins that were impeding her repentance process. The spirit guided me in that previous interview to help her realize the choices that she had to make and the eternal consequences of these choices. She made the changes necessary and the spirit that we felt was completely different. She had a marvelous desire and her smile as she was baptized and after she received the Holy Ghost was a special moment.

In our fast and testimony meeting, Cleber bore his testimony and spoke a lot about his repentance process and baptism. He shed a few tears as he explained his immense gratitude for the gospel and its power to remove him from the vice of alcoholism that was destroying his life. He thanked me personally over the pulpit and I also shed a few tears. Afterwards I bore my testimony about the miracle of repentance and change.

My favorite moment this week happened Monday night with our wonderful investigator, Ze Vicente. He is an old, funny, poor guy who likes us, likes the church, but has some problems. He is very self conscious about his poverty and its difficult to reason with him about the importance of the heart and not of our clothing. We brought him some shoes last week, but they were too big, so we gave them to Pedro (remember the guy who makes soap?). He was with us Monday night and gave his old shoes to Ze Vicente, who laughingly put them on but refused them saying they were too big. He was being a lovable stubborn, proud, dirt-poor guy. I was feeling cold during the afternoon and had put on two pairs of socks (also to make my feet fit in my big rain boots another elder gave me). I ripped of my boots and my socks and put them on Ze Vicente’s feet and they fit with the shoes. He laughed and laughed and then said he didn’t want them but we put up a good fight and he finally accepted them. We started teaching, sang a hymn, then all of the sudden he wanted to give the shoes back and I jokingly told him. Ze if you don’t take the shoes we’re going to leave. And he still didn’t want the shoes so I jumped up and said lets go and we left, and Vicente was laughing, not believing I was serious. It all worked out perfectly. Pedro convinced Ze Vicente that the church isn’t just for rich people and put to rest a couple of lies the neighbors had been telling Ze Vicente. It was wonderful.

The lows have to be told too. I had created some expectations in my head about a couple of things that didn’t happen. It was my own fault but it caused me a lot of personal confusion and frustration, but I am confident it was just my own stupidity and not a really important thing.

Something that just happened yesterday hurt a lot too – one of the young men of our branch committed suicide. I knew him alright, but not really well. It was one of those moments where you cry because you had no idea. If you had known or recognized something about the situation of course you would have done something. But I had no idea. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but we all feel terrible about it. I know the young man’s older brother very well, and I feel his pain. He was only 13.

We also had a lot of rejection this past week, but really the joys have been greater than the pains. But as Lehi clearly taught us, you have to have the both sides. Its just how it works. I know that God cares immensely for us. He desires our happiness, but has an incredibly respect for our personal liberty. We have to recognize that and show him we appreciate it by placing our trust in Him and following in obedience. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and when it comes down to it that makes the rest of it all true too. I am so grateful for the sacrifices of the many people that made that book of scripture possible for us.

Elder Monroe

And great was the fall of it!

2007-08-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

This week was spectacular. It had lots of action, work, results and some powerful, personal, spiritual experiences. Since so much happened, I will try and hit it all:

The Fall – Monday night in front of Gorete´s house, I took a pretty hysterical fall. I am proud to say it was my first true fall of my mission, and it was a good one. It was pouring, and a river of water comes down in front of her house and passes to the side. I turned at the wrong moment, in about 10 centimeters of water, and lost my footing. You know those cartoon characters that slip on banana peels and fall straight on their backs, yeah it was pretty much like that. It didn’t hurt at all, and was actually one of the funniest moments of my week. I was so drenched!

The Baptisms. We had a wonderful baptismal meeting on Saturday night with 4 baptisms. Each was special and individual. I felt a strong personal connection with each one. I had the privilege of performing a few baptismal interviews, which were overwhelming, difficult, wonderful and spiritual moments. Receiving instantaneous guidance from the Spirit and helping people make important personal decisions helped me to grow as much as the people that passed, or didn’t pass, their baptismal interviews. I feel such a close connection and deep friendship with so many people here. I will probably leave this area next transfer, and it already makes me a little sad. I feel like I finally have it all figured out here, and that we are finally making a difference.

The Fast. In our district meeting we began a 40 day fast from the behaviors and habits that prevent the Holy Ghost from being our constant companion. It has been incredible personally since I made that decision. I hope it is having the same revitalizing effect with our district.

The Conference. Our zone conference was wonderful. I got picked to do a practice in front of the 2 zones of elders (something which I DO NOT like). It is so strange teaching other elders in front of 40 other elders, with a random companion. My momentary comp taught everything and left nothing for me, so I just agreed and bore a 30 second testimony and left it at that. Oh well.

The Ducks. So I had the random brilliant idea to buy 2 ducks for a family in the branch. They have been helping us in the work a lot (they were a little less active when I arrived and we´ved helped them a little bit catch the enthusiasm of the work). We bought a yellow duck which we named Elder Monroe, and a brown one we named Elder De Souza (it turned out to be a girl, and was renamed Sister De Souza). Everything was going well – the family loved them, we passed by to visit them every once in a while, but this last Saturday a Cassaco got into their cage and ate them. I don’t quite understand what a cassaco is, but it sounds like something between a opossum and a monkey. We mourned a little bit, and a little more when we learned the store doesn’t have any more ducklings. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

The Book of Mormon. I started it again and this time I am hitting it up hard. I want to finish it in 40 days and so far it is going really well. I´d like to invite all of you to do that with me – read it in 40 days. Why not? If you already have a reading program going, stick to it, but if you´ve been slacking you can join me and tell me how it goes.This work is wonderful. The Book of Mormon is the greatest source of spiritual power available on this planet. Reading it gives us force, motive, strength and excitement to confront the ceaseless attacks on our spirituality. Go read it. Now!

Man all this missionary business is making me rather pushy?

I Love you guys,
Elder Monroe

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven

2007-07-25T19:19:00.000-05:00

Why is it that some times the simplest things surprise us? Why is it we quit doing the simple things and disqualify ourselves for Gods blessings? This week I gained a testimony (well I already had one but it got a lot stronger) seeing the blessing those who strive to keep the commandments receive. Here are some of the people who taught me these lessons this week:

Pedro and DaisyThis beautiful couple have been in the church about 14 years. They were baptized as youth and each one served missions. They came back met each other and got married. They had nothing. When we say this here, it means something different. NOTHING. No house, no food, no car, no money, no education, - just the will to work and the things they had learned in the gospel. They started collecting the oil that’s left over when everyone fries up the chicken for lunch. They mixed it with caustic salt and a couple of other chemicals someone taught them about and started making soap and selling it door to door. Pedro earned enough and bought a bike and started riding an hour and a half to downtown and filling up buckets of grease from the restaurants and hotels and taking it home. After many years of hard work they are now owners and operators of a small soap factory that they built within their own house. They have now extended and bought two more houses, Pedro managed to get his drivers license this past month and now they will start delivering in a rented van. They have two daughters and another on the way. They show up at church on their bikes, rain or shine with the two girls sitting in laundry baskets tied to the front and back of Pedro’s bike. They have appeared in the newspaper here and were hired by the state to travel to other cities and give lectures on how people can start their own businesses. They are obedient, faithful tithe payers and some of the greatest, simplest examples of faith I have ever seen.

Leo and Jo
They are doing great. Leo got his job back as a dengue hunter (health agent). Leo will give a 5 minute talk/testimony next week in sacrament meeting. They read the scriptures together every day and are so excited to show us what they’ve learned and marked.
There are so many other wonderful examples I would love to tell you about, but there isn’t time. So here is some info on our current investigators:

Ze Vicente – A 54 year old man that went to church last week. This past Sunday he couldn’t go because a friend paid him 10 reais to work in his yard, and he needed that 10 reais to buy his gas this month because he has been cooking over the fire until now. He has hernias from working too hard and can’t read or write. He loves it when we teach him and afterwards asks his daughter to reread the pamphlets we leave with him. We are trying to find some shoes and pants for him because he felt out of place at church in his sandals and shorts.

Maria and Luana, Alexandre, Alex – Maria and her three kids are cousins of a recent converts Wilkison, Wedja, Soraia and Raquel. Maria accepted our baptismal invitation with here kids but Sunday came and they went to church with their cousins and she disappeared. This past Sunday it happened again which puts us in a pickle… again. We will help the older children prepare for baptism because they are going to church and have a desire to be part of the gospel like their cousins. I hope Maria will recognize the importance of going with them and living the gospel in her own life.

Amaro and Cicera. – an elderly couple who went to church last week and loved it. They said it was so organized and they learned so much they wanted to always go and even be baptized. When we taught them last Monday night they said they didn’t want to get married because they were already old and there was no point. We prepared to teach them more about marriage on Wednesday, but Cicera had a stroke and lost the use of her right side. Amaro and her will return to the interior, to a small city that doesn’t have the church. That made us a bit sad.

Marcos – 30. Wants to be baptized but has to get married. Wants to get married but his wife won’t marry him until he gets a job. Wants to get a job but has nothing to offer. Wants to go to another state (Pernambuco) to visit his uncle who’ll give him 50 bucks to buy a cart and sell meat pastries in the street. Wants to go to Pernambuco but doesn’t have any money. Tomorrow he will clean the weeds behind the church and will earn 10 reais (5 bucks). Its difficult to now how to best help Marcos. He has already come to church twice and really likes it, lets see if we can help him put his life in order.

It was a good week of work. 9 investigators came to church even though it was pouring rain which was AWESOME. The hummingbirds finally showed up at our house to drink the nectar from our feeder. Now we have about 5 that sit out their fighting over the nectar and they are fun to watch. Also, I finished the front garden which is quite beautiful if I do say so. Now we just have to be better about having inside the house be as clean as outside. I find it funny – I sweep the porch 3 times a week but hate sweeping the kitchen floor. I just like to be outside I think.

Elder De Souza and I are really good friends. I am now his companion longer that I have been with any other companion (the old record was Elder Brown – 9 weeks in the mtc). He is opening up a lot more, laughing more, teaching great and it’s a blessing to have him at my side. We have a great relationship and trust with the members and its helping us to have some good results. We will have two baptisms this week – one little sister of a member and a friend of another member. Wahoo! Go members!

Oh and by the way – conference is tomorrow, that’s why pday is one day early. Oh well. See ya next week. And remember – sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. It’s so simple – just have enough faith and trust to do what Heavenly Father says, and He will bless us richly. It’s a promise – not my promise, His promise. And He is someone you can really trust.

Elder Monroe

Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?

2007-07-18T18:44:00.000-05:00

So I found a member here with the same cord that my camera uses and borrowed it this morning. I put 19 pictures on costco.com. Just click on Photo Center and sign if as if you were me - kmmonroe@myldsmail.net with the password: poway.

Other than that the week was a good one. I almost worked more in other areas more than in my own with all the divisions of being a district leader. I split with the zone leaders in their area, then with Elder Miller in his and then with Elder Storer in mine. It was fun and good to learn and teach.

Sunday was awesome. We prayed with a TON of faith that it wouldn't rain sunday morning, cause it was pouring on saturday. It was a beautiful clear day for branch conference and there were 240 people in sacrament meeting. Yes sadly enough we are still a branch. Take a wild guess why .... tithing? Yep. We are growing and reactiving a lot. Two of the high priests group went out visiting people on saturday and it made me so happy I didn't know what to say.

Life is good. The highlight of my week was buying a birdfeeder for hummingbirds. (they are called flower kissers here). The low point was that not a single one has showed up yet. Dang. This place is full of birds but they wont come close to my feeder.

Love ya guys.Elder Monroe