Xaxim Week 4

So, this week was pretty good. It has been pretty slow these past few weeks in the area. We haven´t been finding new people to teach so we were basically just teaching the same 4-5 people every week. This week, however, we are finding new people to teach which is GREAT! Also this week we will have a baptism. Remember when a few weeks ago I said that we had a baptism that fell out of the sky? Well, he wasn´t as ready as the people who passed the reference had made it seem, but he has been making progress, and he will be baptized this Saturday. We are planning on having a family home evening with him on Tuesday, and take him to the temple on Wednesday, then on Thursday talk about the baptismal interview, then the interview on Friday, and then he will be BAPTIZED on Saturday. Anyway we are a little excited for him 😊. We have some other investigators as well but they are all a little farther from baptism.

Anyway this week I have learned a lot. I have learned that God really always gives a way so that we can fulfill his commandments. That has to do with obedience. This week I also decided to start being a little more obedient to the mission rules in little ways. I am making small sacrafices, but apparently that is what God expects of us. If we find the little ways that we can be more obedient then we will be blessed. It really is not the easiest thing to do with the World Cup going on, but we do our best.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week, and have a good time watching, not watching, or not being able to watch (me 😂) the World Cup.

--
Élder Pettingill

Pic
-me with a pitbull that a member has, after the ``soccer´´ that we played. (we can´t play soccer, but we can play some games, like knockout but for soccer. )

Xaxim Week 3

So this week has been hard. So for those of you who don´t know, here it is winter and flu season, so guess what? Elder Verdugo and I have gotten sick. He got it first about half way through the week, then I got it on Saturday. We are both still feeling it. Another thing that you all might now know is that the World Cup has started, and here this is like the Olympics, but a little bigger. Literally everyone is watching when Brazil plays. Schools stop, workers are sent home, and people don´t go to church just to watch the game. It is pretty intense, but then there are the lowly missionaries who aren´t allowed to watch the game, so we are going to be out of a lot of work this month. Thankfully our most interested investigator isn´t that in to soccer so it is a little easier to teach him, but not when Brazil is playing.

Anyway the work has been a little slower here. We are trying to find new people to teach, but because we are a little closer to the center of Curitiba, the people here are a little more to themselves which makes it hard for them to accept our message, but we are working with Valdemar who will be baptized on June 30th. He is making good progress, and is very open to our message. Also we are teaching Túlio who is friends with a coworker/ who is a member of the church. The sad thing is that Túlio broke his arm playing soccer this week, so he is in the hospital, and will have a surgery soon, but he is very interested and open as well.

I am learning a lot about God, and I really know that he doesn´t give us things that we can´t handle. How do I know this? Because as I become a better , things get harder. Why? because now I can handle it.

Anyway have a good week, and just know that I am rooting for Brasil to win the World Cup, and it doesn´t have anything to do with the mission rule that we have to root for Brasil.

Pics
-first bunch My house (I do pull ups on the stair case😉)
-Me and my new brazil jersey 🎉
-The group that went with me to finish off vista things​

Xaxim Week 2

So this week was cool.
-Monday: P-day We had a barbecue with the stake president and all the missionaries in the stake, and we played a Book of Mormon questions game a learned a little.
-Tuesday: we worked, and we met with Waldemar, who is dating a member of the church. He has already visited the church a lot of times, and he likes it, and he likes the impact that it is having in his life. We are talking with him now, and he is very interested in our message. He is making progress and we hope that he will be baptized soon.
-Wednesday: we had our zone conference. We talked about contacts, and how we need to use our talents to help people come unto Christ. Also we talked about the conference that President Nelson had with the youth, and our part as missionaries. We talked about how everyone one of us needs to take a part in the gathering of Israel. I learned a lot here, and Elder Verdugo and I are trying to apply this in our work.  Also we met with Túlio, who is a friend/coworker with a member. He is also friends with the missionaries, and cuts our hair for free 😃 (and very well too) Anyway we started teaching him, and he is very open, and very interested in the message that we shared, and very open to the commitments that we left with him.
-Thursday: Another day of work, but we didn´t get a lot done because of some different factors.
-Friday: We had District Leader meeting. I learned a lot what it means to be a district leader. About helping the missionaries, and helping lift them up.
Saturday: We worked, helped people met with some less actives.
Sunday:We went to church. The sacrament meeting was great. The Principle os the Gospel class was very good about the Book of Mormon. And we went to the ward council meeting, did a few visits.

Anyway the work is cool and I am learning a lot. One thing that I learned this week is about charity. Charity is the pure love of Christ, and the love that Christ has for all of us. Everyone needs charity, especially leaders. Charity helps us have patience, be humble, and serve others, but one aspect of charity that I learned this week is about the work. An essential part of charity is sharing the gospel. You cannot have charity if you don´t share the gospel. The best way that you can love someone, or serve them is help them receive the fullness of the gospel in their lives, and so if you really have charity you will want to share the gospel with everyone. That doesn´t mean that everyone has to go preach on a street corner, but it means that everyone has to share the gospel in simple ways, and help gather Israel. Elder Oaks has a talk that is very good-Sharing the Restored Gospel, and describes perfectly the ways that we can share the gospel.  I would like to invite everyone reading this to read this talk, and pray about ways that you can help gather Israel. (Read Elder Oaks' talk here.)

Thank you all for that support, and have a good week

-- Élder Pettingill

Xaxim Week 1--The Beginning

So as you all know, I am now in an area called Xaxim as of last week. Well so far it has been interesting. It is a little harder to work here because the people are not as receptive here. Also the last few missionaries that have been here were on the end of their missions and ``died´´ here. So there aren´t a lot of people to teach so far. This week we are doing our best to work, but we haven´t been making much headway. We are going to change the way we work a little so that we can work more effectively, but anyways it is starting to look good. On Wednesday I fasted, in part because I hadn´t fasted the last month because I had forgotten so I made it up this week. Then with Elder Verdugo I  fasted on Saturday/Sunday (lunch to lunch instead of dinner to dinner) Both of the fasts had to do with blessing the area and that we could find people to teach. We had some good results, some people that look like they are interested, and some others, but the biggest miracle of all this was the baptism that is falling from heaven.

On Sunday night we get a call from the assistants. They told us that there was a person who lives in our area who has been taught by the missionaries a lot, and that he travels a lot so he has visited a lot of wards. What they told us is that he basically knows everything, and that his girlfriend, who is a member of the church, is going to visit Portugal, and so he wants to be baptized before she leaves. So basically we are to just go there verify everything that has been taught, and baptize him this Saturday. Yes this is a miracle, and I testify that the Lord answers prayers/fasts, in many ways and sometimes better than you imagined.

Anyway about the District. In the district there is:

-Sister Martos from the Philippines
-Sister Bispo who is Brazilian
-Sister Fernandes who is Brazilian from the Bahia (it is very well known, and has a lot of stereotypes)
-Sister Laurenz who is from Argentina which also has a lot of stereotypes.
-me
-my companion Elder Verdugo
Sister Martos is companions with Sister Bispo, and Sister Fernandes is companions with sister Laurenz

Well a little bit about my companion Elder Verdugo. He is from Chile. he has 9 months on the mission. So he is like a nerdy rocker dude. He plays the guitar, and had a band before the mission. He really likes memes, and he knows quite a bit of English, and is learning Japanese.

Yeah anyway th-th-th-that´s all folks, and have a great week.

--Élder Pettingill
-District meeting
-my new Brazilian flip-flops (because my other ones broke)

Vila Bela Week 5 Transfers

So first off, if you haven´t heard, this week has started a nationwide trucker strike. Well how it works is that gasoline here is really expensive, and so the truckers weren´t making a living or at least a good one, so they decided to do a strike so that the government lowers the gas prices. What that means is that they are blocking the highways and aren´t letting anyone that is transporting anything, other than people, get through, until the government lowers the gas prices (they are high because of taxes, a lot of taxes). Anyway, the result is that factories, and other places that produce things can´t get their goods to the market, or other places. So basically no one has any gas, and transportation is very limited. They haven´t shut down the city buses in Curitiba yet, or the travel buses, but who knows how long that will last. Also the markets are running out of food. We as missionaries aren´t being that affected by it yet. There is still food, we were told to go and buy food, also there are still buses  sufficient for transfers, so so far everything has worked out.

Okay now about transfers. After one transfer in Vila Bela-Guarapuava, I was transferred to Xaxim (it is pronounced like shashing with emphasis on the ing). I was very surprised to be transferred, and sad to leave my area after such short time, but I have to trust that the Lord needs me here. So now I am in Curitiba for the second time officially, and I am ready to work, and make goals, and take what I learned from Elder Holland and put it to good use.

Also this week end we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Holland. 👏👏. I learned a lot from him. One of the things he said is that as a missionary I am an apostle with a lower case a, and he is an Apostle with a capital A. This is because as missionaries we work side by side with the Quorum of the Twelve in the salvation of souls. He made it very clear that the most important thing that someone can do in their life is serve a mission, because nothing is more important than a human soul. He also talked about how we don´t have power over the conversion of anybody, but ourselves, so we need to make sure that we are converted. It is okay if some sheep leave the fold, but we cannot lose a shepherd. Also He talked about how in this church it is always forward. No matter how much you have learned, no matter how good you are, or how much responsibility you have or have had, you have to keep on learning. It was an amazing experience to be able to hear an Apostle of the Lord. Also it was a very good reminder that everyone is human, and everyone has faults, and that we don´t have to be robots in life. While Elder Holland was talking, he joked a lot. It helped everyone keep a light mood, but still learn. I am thankful for the time that I had with him. Also it was good to see that even a truckers strike can´t stop the Lord. All the missionaries in the missions Curitiba and Curitiba sul were able to get there (I think), and were able to get back safely.

Elder Holland shared a poem which he said is french, but he shared it in English

``Come to the edge.´´
``No, I´ll fall. It´s hard.´´
``Come to the edge.´´
``No, it´s hard. I´ll fall.´´
``COME TO THE EDGE!´´
So I came to the edge, and he pushed me, and I flew.

I know that the work I am doing is of the highest importance, and I am very grateful to be able to be a part of this wonderful work.

Have a good week, and remember that you all can be a part as well.

-- Élder Pettingill

Pics:
-The over 60 cookies that I made with 4 types
-My new soccer shoes so that I can learn how to play soccer
-The fire that we made in the barbeque with a bunch of boxes that were in the appartment.
-My and Elder Londoño´s knew thor(his) hulk(mine) ragneroc fight cups
-My knew companion Elder Verdugo.

Vila Bela Week 4

So this week has been great. We have found a lot of new people to teach. We are really doing our best to help the work progress this week. Also we had a little miracle that happened on Sunday. Also on Tuesday we had a ``snack´´ with the district, but I forgot to take a pic.

So even though we have found a lot of new people to teach, we had almost no one to go to church this week. Elder Londoño and I were a little sad, but we prayed that Heavenly Father would bless us with someone. Anyway we had been teaching this young man Luan. He hadn´t been making a whole lot of progress. He wanted to be baptized, but he wasn´t fulfilling with the commitments that we left with him, like go to church, and he wouldn´t stop drinking coffee. So we decided that right now he wasn´t ready, and that we would drop him, and he would be ready for some other missionaries. Well that Sunday when we were sad, he appeared there, which made us very happy, and asked why we had stopped going to teach him. We explained to him, and asked about the coffee. He said that he had stopped. So we marked a visit with him later that day, then we marked a baptismal date for June 2nd. This experience really showed the love that Heavenly Father has for all his children. The love he has for me, and the love that he has for the people that I am teaching. I know that this is his work, and I am very grateful to be a part of it.

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

-- Élder Pettingill

Pics:
-some pics I took on the bus ride to the District meeting
-the ``galera´´ after the District meeting
-more pics from the bus ride

Vila Bela Week 3

So this week was cool. So first off on Wednesday we had some interviews with President which was really cool, and helped me be motivated to work this week. Then we worked some more finding people and helping them. Then on Friday we had splits with the Zone Leaders. I went to the center with Elder Reid while Elder Londoño stayed in our area with Elder Lira. It was fun because we had to go out to this place in the middle of nowhere, and there was a parrot there, so that was cool. Also I did some baptismal interviews for them. We are preparing one person specifically for baptism, José. His only problem is that he is very forgetful, like he forgets things in the moment in which you say them, so pray for him. We are also working with some other families as well. Mother´s day was great, and it was really great to see my family, but it was a little weird because it was my last one, so I am really just waiting till I see everyone in person. Since I am serving in a branch, and because nobody here really knows anything about music, I am being called on to help the Primary prepare for the Primary program while I am here. So it looks like every Sunday I will be going into the Primary to help them learn the music.

Anyway it was a great week and I am learning a lot here in Brazil. It really is amazing to look back and see all the changes that have occurred.

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

-- Élder Pettingill