União da Vitória Week 5

So this week was very tiring. There was one day that we got home, and I couldn't even think, I was so tired. I guess that is what you get for working in the area that is very far away from where you are living. The good news is that we found the most people to teach in one week that I have found in a long time. Also we had a good working day on Sunday which also almost never happens.

What I learned this week is that when you work hard the Lord blesses you. Also if you seek the Lord you will find him. We had a baptism this week, well not us, but the sisters in the same branch, so I had the opportunity to interview him for baptism. He had changed a lot and it was really cool, the only thing was that everything went wrong with his baptism. No one had time to fill the baptismal font, and the member who was responsible for it was working. What got worse is that the font was filling very slowing because it has a problem that hasn't been fixed yet. Also the branch president was out of town during the baptism and a little before, so no one got in contact with him until the baptismal date. They forgot to announce the baptism the week before so almost no one knew that it happened until the Sunday after. But all in all he was baptized and confirmed a member of the church and that is what matters. I was really stressed and tired while we were trying to figure it all out and get the font filled, and so I went and said a prayer. I felt better the next day and I was able to focus and have a good Sunday. I was able to enjoy the baptismal service, and work well on Sunday. I know that is because Heavenly Father helped me and answered my prayer.

I know that when we sincerely ask the Father in the name of Christ, he answers our prayers.

Thank you all for the support and have a good week

#1 year 8 Months today!

-- Élder Pettingill

Pictures the mother of Elder Carver, one of the apartment Elders, posted on the mission Facebook page:

União da Vitória Week 4

So this week was a little strange. So we had zone conference this week on Thursday. What did that mean? That meant that Thursday we had to get up early, and get on a van to go to a different city, have the zone conference, then interviews with President, then get on the van again, and go home. We left where we live at 7am, got there 9am, the zone conference started 10am, and finished about 5:30pm (we ate lunch so that doesn´t count), then President interviewed almost everyone, so we left there about 10:30pm, and got home 12:30am. So it was an exhausting day. Then the rest of the week we had a series of things that stopped us from working. On Friday NO ONE was home. Which was really strange. Saturday we did an activity, and no one was home when we weren´t working on the activity. And on Sunday I had gotten sick, with a cold to the point that I was falling a sleep a lot in church, so I slept to feel better after lunch, then we went to work, and no one was home again. I don´t know what kind of game satan has been playing this last half of the week, but I am not liking it. I guess we will just have to work harder and find people who are home so that we can teach.

Anyway I worked some more on having good works, and the zone conference talked a lot about the kind of missionary you are. Are you doing the will of the Lord, or your own will? Are you being self reliant, or doing you own will? There was so much I learned. We also learned a lot about how to teach people, and not lessons, by tying all the questions that people have to the doctrine of the Restoration.

Thank you all for the support, and  sorry I don´t have a pics this week

-- Élder Pettingill

União da Vitória Week 3

Olá todo Mundo!

This week has been good, but VERY tiring. We have been working in some areas which are a little farther away than the other Elders who have been here have been working, so we are doing a lot of walking lately. Also it doesn´t help that today for our P-day we went up a hill to see a big statue of Christ with a Catholic shrine on top (see pics below). We have been working a lot, and this week we just have to try and work a little more efficiently, not that we aren´t trying, but we just have to try harder.

Anyway we are working hard, and this Saturday we will have an activity in the ward that is based on the plan of salvation, that will basically explain about what happens after this life. The activity is called "The Plane" so you can imagine what will happen. 😅

Anyway, it is getting a little warmer here, but it still gets a little cold at night.

So more about living in 4 Elders; there is this coin twister machine here in our area where you can buy Pokemon, so Elder Fernandes, Elder Carver, and I have gotten a little addicted to buying them in the hope of "catching them all." Well it has gotten to the point where we made a dueling game with the Pokemon, and if we have done everything that we should do at night and we still have time before we go to bed, we play a little bit.

One thing that really has motivated me this week is a little about what it says in Alma 5, about good works. In Alma 5 it talks a lot about our relationship with God, and about judgement day, and how if our works have been good we will be sons and daughters of God, but how if our works have been bad then we are sons and daughters of the devil. So this week I have been focusing on serving people for the only reason of having done good works. It is really gratifying, and I invite everyone who is reading this to look at new ways that your works are good, so that you are children of Christ.

Thank you all for the support, and have a good week.

-- Élder Pettingill

União da Vitória Week 2

Hey everyone! So this week was good. So for all of you that don´t know what it is like to live in an apartment of 4 Elders, just imagine 4 18-21 year old guys living together, who have to be serious all day. Yeah as you can imagine it gets pretty crazy. The apartment is completely tile and so we have some bouncy balls that we throw at one another using the different walls to make it impossible to catch or dodge. The lunches are pretty funny as well because everyone (especially Elder Silva on Elder Carver's plate) puts food on each other´s plates even when we are done eating so that that person has to continue to eat. We are trying to keep it under control now.

Anyway the area is great here. There are some people who aren't very nice, but there are plenty of people who are very nice. We have been talking with everyone, and so we have been finding more people to teach this week. We are teach one young woman named Fernanda who is the sister of another person we were teaching, who moved. She is making progress along with Denise and Cadu, and Lucas and Carla who are relatives. Carla and Denise (sisters) and Cadu (Denise' son) Lucas (Carla's son). We are working a lot and learning a lot.

This week I learned about our desires. What we want determines who we become. If we want something enough we will make sacrifices so that we can have the thing(s) we want. In my case, I want the salvation of the people here, and I work, teach, am here in Brasil, talk with people even when I don´t want to, knock doors, do other things that I would otherwise not do, so that the people here can come unto Christ, and make a covenant (baptism with authority from God) that is necessary for their salvation. I know that what I am doing is VERY important in the lives of these people, and I invite everyone who is reading this letter to decide one thing that you can sacrifice for your desire for the salvation of someone.

Thank you all for the support and have a great week

-- Élder Pettingill

My blanket that I put buttons on, so that I can be a human burrito, while I sleep, when it is cold.

União da Vitória Week 1

So first off I will talk a little bit about the area.

I am companions with Elder Fernandes. He is from São Paulo, but not the capital. He has been on the mission for about 5 months now, and he likes to play pranks, but so far not on me. He is a good missionary, and I like to work with him.

So I am in União da Vitória, which is a city on the border with another state. We cross the border a lot. Across the border the city is Porto União, and it is hard to tell which part is which. The branch here is basically a ward, and only isn´t a ward because there isn´t a stake which is can be part of. I am living in an apartment with four missionaries. Elder Fernandes, Elder Carver (he has about 6 months on the mission), Elder Silva (he arrived with me on the mission), and me. We live on the fifth floor of a building (the last floor), so that means that every time that we go home we have to go up 4 flights of stairs. It was not very fun to move in. So the branch is good, and the members are cool people. I am the District Leader of 6 missionaries. The four of us in the apartment, and 2 sisters Sister Acunha and a sister from Peru with a complicated name. The sister from Peru    is training Sister Acunha. The 6 of us go to the same branch so it is fun.

So in the area we are teaching some people that are making progress and I am still getting to know the area. The people here are nice or not nice. They either talk with us or don´t make eye contact. It is very different. I really like working with Elder Fernandes. He is very excited and full of motivation to work. We are helping one another do contacts and work hard.

So it is weird because normally this time of the year in Brazil it starts to get warmer, but the weather is being weird this year, and it is still cold. It has been cold and rainy this week, but luckily my shoes are still mostly waterproof, and there was an umbrella in the house that I could use.

I am excited to work and make this last part of my mission count.

One funny story this week before I finish, is that we were making brownies, and there is this thing called farofa here which they put on the rice and beans, that is basically ground up corn or some other grain, it looks a little like sand. Well I have peanut farofa that I use to make banana shakes, and so we were making brownies and I was like yeah let´s put peanut farofa in it. (people don´t normally have peanut farofa) so I told the other american, Elder Carver, that we were putting peanut farofa in the brownies, and we put it in. Then he comes in mad, and we were like ``what´s up?´´. He didn´t know what peanut is in Portuguese so he thought we put this other farofa in the brownies! We got a good laugh, and he felt better knowing that we just put peanuts in the brownies.

Have a good week and thank you all for the support.

-- Élder Pettingill

Pics
-Elder Bryan and I on splits
-Pizza with Elder Pereira
-The District (Elder Fernandes is the one with glasses)
-The 165 reais worth of coins that I had to trade in so that I could take the bus for some meetings this week