What’s up my peeps!!!
Monday
Nothing really went on today, we just relaxed and wrote letters and took naps haha. It always feels good to take a nap.
Tuesday
This morning we had our district meeting. For those who don’t know what a district meeting is I will explain: It is when the all the missionaries in a district meet up and have a meeting. In this meeting they talk about news from the mission president and training. We also do a little language study as well. I will give you an example of our schedule.
Bem Vindo (Welcome)
Start with a Hymn
1st prayer
State our purpose (all together)
Someone will share a spiritual thought
Talk about President’s Letter
Training (District Leader does this)
Game to help memorize scriptures
Language study
Talk about investigators
Sing the mission hymn (Together in a huddle)
Last prayer
So basically that is how a district meeting will go and we have it every Tuesday in the morning at the church. Because I am the District Leader I am in charge of it and plan the whole thing. We only have four elders in our district. Just the missionaries here in Santo André, so we are the District of Santo André.
Wednesday
Today was a really cool day. This afternoon we had the opportunity to help an investigator paint her school. The other elders helped us paint the school. We painted it blue and white. It was so much fun! It took us about 2-3 hours to finish it. We put about 3 layers on it so it would look really nice. The lady (Shela) was very grateful for us. When we were all done she took us to a restaurant and bought us lunch. She is so nice! She is also the lady who wants us to help out with the English language classes. We still haven’t started that, but it will be soon. It’s not so much that we will teach them English, It’s more of just having conversations in English. The kids already know a little bit of English, they just need to practice using it and have a normal conversation in English. It will be really fun. It will also give us an opportunity to explain who we are and why we are her in Portugal. It will be a great experience. We also had a lesson with Maria (the lady who went to church by herself). We taught her the 2nd lesson (The Plan of Salvation) and she loved it. After the lesson we talked about how she felt about the lesson. Then we asked her if she believes that she is a part of this plan. She told us yes. Then we asked her if she would follow it and also follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized how he was, with a person who has the authority of God. She told us that she wasn’t sure. We then asked her to say a prayer so that God could help her with this decision. After the prayer it was silent for about a couple of minutes. Then she started to cry. We asked if she was alright. She responded to us and said that she received an answer and that she needed to be baptized. So we talked about what she felt and then scheduled her for baptism. It was such a spiritual moment right there. Maria has lots of faith in the Lord. We are so happy for her.
Thursday
We were supposed to have a lesson with Maria this morning but she had to cancel it because she had to go visit her son in Sutubal. So we just scheduled a different day to pass by. Because Maria was not there we started to talk to her neighbors. We had a normal conversation about flowers and dogs or something like that and then we asked if we could share a little message about families with them. They said that would be very nice, so they let us in. It was a very cute old couple (around there 80´s). We shared a message about how families can be eternal. They really liked the message and said that we can come back anytime we wanted to. She then told us she likes to make cakes so if we return one day there might be a cake ready to eat haha. Later today we helped a less active move some furniture to their new house. Her husband is not a member and didn’t really want to have lessons from the missionaries. After we helped them the wife sent us a message and said she was very grateful for our help and because we helped her husband, he opened up to us and he will now let us give lessons to him. That just shows the power through service. So we will work with them soon.
Friday
This morning we had our weekly planning and it went great as always. Later today we went over to a less actives house with the other Elders. This less active is about in her 70´s so she calls us her grandkids. Because she calls us that we call her our Portuguese Grandma. Her name is Odete. We went over to her house to teach her how to make brownies. Apparently I make really good brownies and everyone always wants them. I guess it helps being the chef in our house. I usually cook every day and I love it. So we all eat well every day. That was really fun teaching our Portuguese Grandma Odete how to make brownies. Every area I go to I always end up getting a Portuguese Grandma. I love it!!!
Saturday
Later today we got the chance to help a member with her genealogy at the church because she is going to bring some names to the temple next week. We needed to use the computer, but you need a key to open the computer room. The other Elders had the key and they said they would leave it at the church for us. Well they did, but they hid it. They left us notes to go and find the key like a scavenger hunt. It was really funny and fun. Then the member came and we helped her with her genealogy. It was really fun to help her out.
Sunday
We had a great day at church today. We had someone from the Stake come to give a message to the members here so that was cool. Today Elder Rosenkilde gave a lesson about love and how it is the center of our work. He gave a really great lesson. I’m so proud of him. I also had a chance to give a talk in church today. I decided to talk about knowledge. I talked about how we can gain knowledge and why we need it. One thing that is important about knowledge is that it is essential for our salvation. How we can gain it is through the scriptures and then applying it in our lives. This is when knowledge can be turned into wisdom. It was really great to talk about this during sacrament meeting. After church it was our turn to help the Branch President with the tithing and other church duties. Later today we passed by some members to see how they were. We left a small message with them and talked for a little bit. Then we headed back home to finish the day.
Yep so that was basically my week. It was full of adventure and excitement. Hope you all have a wonderful week and learn lots. Remember to smile and keep on rolling!!!
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell
Monday
Nothing really went on today, we just relaxed and wrote letters and took naps haha. It always feels good to take a nap.
Tuesday
This morning we had our district meeting. For those who don’t know what a district meeting is I will explain: It is when the all the missionaries in a district meet up and have a meeting. In this meeting they talk about news from the mission president and training. We also do a little language study as well. I will give you an example of our schedule.
Bem Vindo (Welcome)
Start with a Hymn
1st prayer
State our purpose (all together)
Someone will share a spiritual thought
Talk about President’s Letter
Training (District Leader does this)
Game to help memorize scriptures
Language study
Talk about investigators
Sing the mission hymn (Together in a huddle)
Last prayer
So basically that is how a district meeting will go and we have it every Tuesday in the morning at the church. Because I am the District Leader I am in charge of it and plan the whole thing. We only have four elders in our district. Just the missionaries here in Santo André, so we are the District of Santo André.
Wednesday
Today was a really cool day. This afternoon we had the opportunity to help an investigator paint her school. The other elders helped us paint the school. We painted it blue and white. It was so much fun! It took us about 2-3 hours to finish it. We put about 3 layers on it so it would look really nice. The lady (Shela) was very grateful for us. When we were all done she took us to a restaurant and bought us lunch. She is so nice! She is also the lady who wants us to help out with the English language classes. We still haven’t started that, but it will be soon. It’s not so much that we will teach them English, It’s more of just having conversations in English. The kids already know a little bit of English, they just need to practice using it and have a normal conversation in English. It will be really fun. It will also give us an opportunity to explain who we are and why we are her in Portugal. It will be a great experience. We also had a lesson with Maria (the lady who went to church by herself). We taught her the 2nd lesson (The Plan of Salvation) and she loved it. After the lesson we talked about how she felt about the lesson. Then we asked her if she believes that she is a part of this plan. She told us yes. Then we asked her if she would follow it and also follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized how he was, with a person who has the authority of God. She told us that she wasn’t sure. We then asked her to say a prayer so that God could help her with this decision. After the prayer it was silent for about a couple of minutes. Then she started to cry. We asked if she was alright. She responded to us and said that she received an answer and that she needed to be baptized. So we talked about what she felt and then scheduled her for baptism. It was such a spiritual moment right there. Maria has lots of faith in the Lord. We are so happy for her.
Thursday
We were supposed to have a lesson with Maria this morning but she had to cancel it because she had to go visit her son in Sutubal. So we just scheduled a different day to pass by. Because Maria was not there we started to talk to her neighbors. We had a normal conversation about flowers and dogs or something like that and then we asked if we could share a little message about families with them. They said that would be very nice, so they let us in. It was a very cute old couple (around there 80´s). We shared a message about how families can be eternal. They really liked the message and said that we can come back anytime we wanted to. She then told us she likes to make cakes so if we return one day there might be a cake ready to eat haha. Later today we helped a less active move some furniture to their new house. Her husband is not a member and didn’t really want to have lessons from the missionaries. After we helped them the wife sent us a message and said she was very grateful for our help and because we helped her husband, he opened up to us and he will now let us give lessons to him. That just shows the power through service. So we will work with them soon.
Friday
This morning we had our weekly planning and it went great as always. Later today we went over to a less actives house with the other Elders. This less active is about in her 70´s so she calls us her grandkids. Because she calls us that we call her our Portuguese Grandma. Her name is Odete. We went over to her house to teach her how to make brownies. Apparently I make really good brownies and everyone always wants them. I guess it helps being the chef in our house. I usually cook every day and I love it. So we all eat well every day. That was really fun teaching our Portuguese Grandma Odete how to make brownies. Every area I go to I always end up getting a Portuguese Grandma. I love it!!!
Saturday
Later today we got the chance to help a member with her genealogy at the church because she is going to bring some names to the temple next week. We needed to use the computer, but you need a key to open the computer room. The other Elders had the key and they said they would leave it at the church for us. Well they did, but they hid it. They left us notes to go and find the key like a scavenger hunt. It was really funny and fun. Then the member came and we helped her with her genealogy. It was really fun to help her out.
Sunday
We had a great day at church today. We had someone from the Stake come to give a message to the members here so that was cool. Today Elder Rosenkilde gave a lesson about love and how it is the center of our work. He gave a really great lesson. I’m so proud of him. I also had a chance to give a talk in church today. I decided to talk about knowledge. I talked about how we can gain knowledge and why we need it. One thing that is important about knowledge is that it is essential for our salvation. How we can gain it is through the scriptures and then applying it in our lives. This is when knowledge can be turned into wisdom. It was really great to talk about this during sacrament meeting. After church it was our turn to help the Branch President with the tithing and other church duties. Later today we passed by some members to see how they were. We left a small message with them and talked for a little bit. Then we headed back home to finish the day.
Yep so that was basically my week. It was full of adventure and excitement. Hope you all have a wonderful week and learn lots. Remember to smile and keep on rolling!!!
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell