Ferraria Week 16

So this week wasn´t very exciting, and I don´t have any pictures because I left my camera at our house. Anyway next week will have some good pics though, also next week is transfers. We don´t know for sure if/who will be transferred, but we think that at least one of us will go, and both of us think that I am more likely to be transferred. I don´t know thought. All I know is that I am tired of hills. :)

Anyway this week I made pancakes a lot and I figured out how to make waffles with these things that people use to make toast. I don´t know, but it worked. We don´t have syrup here, or the things to make syrup, so we just use condensed milk. It is good. 

Anyway I learned this week that what we want is not always what is best for us or for others. This week we had a investigator with a baptismal date for the 1 of July, which is the last possible date for this transfer. He is progressing, but he still hasn´t received an answer (can you guys pray for him: Edinaldo) Anyway we talked with him on Wednesday, and tried on Thursday, but nothing came of it. Then on Saturday we went by at 4, and only his sister was there, so we came back later, and I knew that if we talked with him we needed to move his date, (also if we tried to baptize him on that day we would have to rush him.) Anyway we talked, and he has an activity on that day so it won´t work anyway. Also he said that he would be at church with his younger brother, but for some reason they didn´t make it. I know that with more time, and with teaching the rest of his family as well we can get him converted. The only thing is I don´t know if I will be here to see it. :(...

Anyway I know that if we trust in the Lord, and really put our faith in him, and know that he knows better than we do, everything will turn out for the better. I know this, and I have seen this, this week. Thank you all for being AWESOME, and perseverar ate o fim.

--Élder Pettingill


Pictures of pday basketball that he sent us and also from Elder Hammond's blog. He said he is wearing a flamangos jersey that Elder R Santos traded to him.​

Ferraria Ainda (again) Week 15

This week was a good week, and a bad week, but mostly a good one. We have been working with a less active, and her husband along with her less active mother. They are cool. Also we have been having a lot of success with one investigator, Edinaldo. There was a video game activity this week and he went to that with his brother. Also he came to church this week. We have been talking with his family, and they are interested, but he is the only one interested enough to actually act on it right now. We will get him firm, then get the rest of the family.

We have also been finding, and working more with the less actives. We brought one to church this week, and have started talking with a lot of others. One, Lucas, is a huge Harry Potter fan, like you walk in his room, and all you see is Harry Potter. Also he looks like a Weasley. He also has a rat that he named Scabbers, so that shows how much he is obsessed. Anyway we started talking with him, and we will reactivate him. 

I have learned so much in this past week. I was reading in Romans 12, and it talked about making your life a living sacrifice to God. I read this, and I really took it to heart, and decide to really, truly lose myself in the work, as President Gordon B Hinckley said in one of his talks. I have really realized that this time is the Lord´s time, and not mine, so anything that I am feeling, or if I want to rest for any reason, I have to think, ``Am I using the Lord´s time right?`` It has also helped me when I am tired, and I just want to stop. I just think ``This is not my time, this is my sacrifice,`` and it really helps me keep going. I think if we have this mind set in our lives we can get through any hard time that we are having. 

I also had an experience with the Lord really helping us do his work, and reach our goals. We had some trouble finding new investigators this week, but we had made a goal of 12 novos (new investigators) for the week. We got to Saturday, and we only had 4. We made a goal for that day to get 4 more novos, and by the end of the day, and I don´t know how, but we got 7 new investigators. I know that it really was the Lord working to strengthen our faith in him, because I know that if he hadn´t prepared the way for us we wouldn´t have been able to take it. I know that the Lord really prepares a way for us in our lives, Just as it says in 1 Nephi 3:7. Also in church this Sunday we learned about obedience, and we learned that when the Lord gives us a commandment, it is because he knows that ALL of his children can obey it. He never gives us commandments that we can´t obey, we just need to find the way to fulfill that commandment. 

I am so grateful to be here in Brazil serving the Lord, and I know that in whatever circumstance we are in, and in whatever part of life we are in we can continue onward, and we can endure to the end.

-- Élder Pettingill

These are some pics from basketball with the district this week.

Ferraria Week 14

So this week has been interesting. We did a lot of work, but didn´t get to meet a bunch with some of our investigators that are progressing. All our baptismal dates fell through because none of them went to church. I was really humbled this week. I think that is a curse/blessing I have is that I can see the reason for all the bad things that occur to me. It is good because I can continue, but it takes away any excuse I have to complain so that annoys me a little. :) Anyway this week I really felt my lack of knowledge in português with me stumbling over words, and me not knowing words that I want to use to explain something. I think the Lord has been hitting me because I haven´t been studying português that much this week.

I did have a bunch of good experiences where I was guided by the spirit this week. Just teaching lessons I really felt like I was teaching really well. Elder Armenta said I was on fire this week. I feel like because I wasn´t worrying as much this week, and following the Lord that happened. The easiest person to teach is the one that doesn´t know anything, so the Lord was showing me who really has the power this week, and that I really need to trust in him. 

We have been trying to teach, but at the same time need to really work on scheduling our activities, because we have gotten a lot where it is late 7-8, and we don´t have anything to do, and it is hard to find something to do that late because it is dark out, and if you knock doors people can´t see you face, so they don´t let you in, and it is harder to get a visit. We will work on that. 

It has been getting really cold this week, and because the water heaters heat up the water as it goes through it, and the water gets colder because it is cold outside, showers in the morning are hard. It doesn´t help that the beds are so warm. Basically it is hard to get up in the morning. We have been wearing a lot more cloths this week, and bringing a lot more cloths with us. This because it is still really sunny, and walking heats you up especially with a lot of hills. So it is a little normal in the afternoon, but gets pretty cold at night. 

Also this week we will try to use the members more in our work, so for all those nonfulltime missionaries read the story of Alma, and Amulek, and get to work. Also Thank you for all the work that you have already done to help the missionaries!

Anyway this week we found more less actives. We will be teaching them as well. We also are going to be trying to help some people become worthy to baptise a member in their family. One of the talks that I have talks about the importance of a Father performing ordenaces for his children, and I think this applies to members of the family as well, so if there is a less active man there, and someone is getting baptised, I am going to try to get that man worthy to baptise that person. 

I also really have been recognizing the blessings of studying now. Especially from modern prophets, and I would encourage everyone who reads this to study talks, and books from the prophets. I have been reading teachings of the presidents of the church Joseph Fielding Smith, and it has really helped me know where I want to go in my life, on the mission, and as a son of God. 

I am so grateful to have this opportunity here in Brazil! Thank you all for the support.

-- Elder Pettingill

So we had a division this week with the zone leaders, and they live in the same house as the assistants, so when I went there, that night they had a bunch of missionaries who had to come a day early for the district leader meeting, and so I got to see a bunch of missionaries, and we bought Pizza. Also there is a pic of Elder Armenta, and I when we didn´t bring umbrellas, and it started to rain. Basically we got soaked. Also there is a pic of Elder Armenta, and me wearing our BYUI shirts.

Ferraria Week 13

So this week was both really great, and a little discouraging, and encouraging.

So at the start of the week we had a zone conference. President is doing it so that there is only one zone at a time. It was really cool, and we learned about using the members, and encouraging them to help us in the work. I learned a lot, and I am excited to be a member, and help out the missionaries. Also I am very grateful for the letters, and the package from my mom! 

The next day we had a division where my companion went to the other area, and Elder Hammond, an american that has less time than me (see pic) came to our area. We went to Santa Angela, and had a very good day. I was able to teach, and understand what the people were saying, with a few more questions as well. I really felt the power of the gift of tongues on that transfer, because as we were walking back I recognized that I had been blessed so that I could say everything that I wanted to say, and to be able to understand everything almost perfectly. It was really a blessing in my life.

The rest of the week was a little disappointing, because almost all the other visits we had fell through. I was a little excited for Sunday, and I was really hoping that we would finally have a investigator there after many weeks of not having one there. I was also a little discouraged because on Saturday the visit with one of the families that we are visiting that is amazing fell through. I was looking forward to that visit ever since the division. We talked with them, and they said they weren´t sure if they would make it to church. So I was disappointed, and I just asked God that we could just have one investigator at church. I pleaded with him. The next day we got there and started waiting, but nobody was showing up. We waited about five minutes into church, and nobody showed up. In priesthood (because we have priesthood first in our ward) I was really feeling discouraged. I was really trying to stay happy, but it was hard. Then one person that I didn´t recognize came in and talked with the leader of the quorum. This ended up being William, an investigator now! A member invited him, his mother, and his wife to church, and they came! I know that God answers prayers, but they may not be in the way we want, or expect. I know that members are really important for missionary work. I know this with all my heart. 

Thank you all for your prayers, and your support

--Elder Pettingill 

P.S. I was reading in Romans this week and really recognizing the teachings there that are taught in the Book of Mormon, and that also strengthed my testimony, and I wondered why people don´t believe in it. 

Pictures: ​I have a lot of pics this week. Some of them are of Santa Angela, and I have some others of some flowers that I took pics of (we have a camera on our phone now so I can take pics of flowers.) Also there are some pics of us walking to the point last P-day. They are cool. Also there are pics of the mission office after the Zone conference, and the cook book I made with the recipes so far.

Also there is a pic from our window here as well.

Ferraria Week 12 (still)

Well I am officially trained now. Although I don´t think much will change with Elder Armenta, and I; we both are really that experienced so yeah...

Anyways this week was both good, and a little bad. Bad because none of our investigators came to church. It has been frustrating with that, but as they say here in Brazil, tudo bem!

We watched the three District 2 videos as part of my last week of training, and I learned so much more from them this time, than before the mission. I guess that is what experience does to you. I really understood the possitions the missionaries were in, and how important it was to them. It really gave me strength to keep going with all the problems that I am having here. I think that study time is so much more important to me now. It is a time for me to relax, and just focus on learning, and understanding. I don´t think ``oh I am a missionary.`` Now it is just the feeling of unbelief that I am actually representing Jesus Christ. I don´t know if that will ever go away. 

So about Portuguese. I am not really worrying about it right now, because most of the time I can understand what people are saying, and if I don´t know a word I just say it to Elder Armenta, and he tells me it in Portuguese. I do need to get better, at reading the b=Book of Mormon more often, but it is a lot easier to understand right now. I think my biggest problem right now is deciding if I want to speak with or without the Curitiaban accent. It is basically deciding if at the ends of words I want DE (denis) to be normal (curitiba) or sound like a j sound (jees) (normal), and if I want TE (tenis) to be normal (curitiba) or like a ch sound (cheese) (normal).

We got a lot of new investigators this week. It was our only good key indicator out of the four. I am trying to stay excited about the work, and I just continue teaching people. I really want to help people, and the gospel is the best way to do that. 

We did have a cool family home evening this week where I taught some people how to make cookies, and we played a game. It was fun, and I will attach some photos of that. We are trying to make sure that this family is active. 

Also I bought a new tie, and sweater this week along with a jacket that I can wear to be protected from the rain when it doesn´t rain a lot. 

Also there is a picture of Myllena, my second baptism, and her grandpa.

Thank you all for the support, and I hope that you are all doing well.

Elder Pettingill