Manacapuru 4evr

We received these emails today from Elder Olivier.  The first one was a response to our family email, while the second one was more of a general summary of his week.  

Hi everyone!!!!!!

This week was great! We are teaching tons of people like always! We´ve been working recently on inviting TONS of people to church and this week we were able to bring 24 (yes, 24!) investigators to sacrament meeting! That is the most that we have ever gotten to come to church. It was awesome! This week is actually ward council and we set a goal with the ward to have an attendance of 200 people (this week we only had a little over 100) and we (the missionaries) set a goal to bring 35 people to church. It´s a big goal. So we´ll see how it goes.

My health is great! I´ve never been better! 

Our ward is great! Sometimes it´s a little hard to work in this area because there are few active priesthood holders and there we don´t get much help from the members. But other than that it´s só alegria (just happiness) 

We actually don´t eat dinner with the members, we eat lunch. Here in Brazil lunch is the biggest meal of the day and most people hardly eat anything for breakfast or dinner. We usually eat lunch with the members every single day, and usually if they can´t make lunch they give us money to eat at a restaurant

So far here in Manacapuru I´ve only given one talk, but I do play the piano every week in sacrament meeting

Toothpaste and dental floss are 100% the same here in brazil so you don´t have to worry about that.... haha. But if you somehow can manage to send root beer that would probably be the best thing ever! haha. 

That´s crazy how there are 4 sets of missionaries in the ward! Hopefully they baptize like crazy there! 

That´s crazy how Cameron is in high school! Freshman! Has anyone stuffed him in a locker yet? 

Dad- step on that carpet again! 

Wow, pão de queijo! Yes, I have eaten that, a lot. We go to the bakery close to our house a lot in the mornings to buy it. 

Tchau!!! I love you all too!

Love, Josh!!

Hi everyone! 

This week we went on divisions, and I went to an area in Manaus to work with Elder George, another american. Working american missionaries is a little different, because you can talk about things like chick fil-a and they will know what you´re talking about! haha. But it is always a really good experience when we go on divisions with other missionaries. We taught a really awesome family that the elders had brought to the temple a few days ago, and everyone in that family was actually baptized this week. 

On saturday I got back to my area. On yesterday we had a baptism of a woman named Sinelande and her daughter Joyce, who are relatives of another recent convert. Their baptism was really spiritual, and Sinelande was actually crying after the ordinance. It was great to see the president of the relief society and one of her counselors talk to her after the ordinance and hug her. I am continually amazed at how much the gospel blesses and changes people. The best part of being on a mission is seeing the gospel change others, and also seeing it is changing me.  There is power in following the Savior´s example and living the gospel.  

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

Élder Olivier!!!

Oh and here´s a picture of the camel that you guys (Mom) sent me- here in Brazil! On my head! 

Pequeno Milagre

We received this email on August 29, 2016.

Hi everone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week we had a pretty cool experience. We had lots of people on date for baptism, but one by one something happened with every single person (went travelling, their parents didn´t allow them to be baptized, lost interest, etc) until, very late in the week, we were left with no one to baptize. We were a little bummed, but we kept working hard like normal. Saturday when we were visiting some other people close to the house of a young man who had travelled to a different city for the week, we actually realized that that young man had actually returned from his trip. We were able to talk to him and he accepted to be baptized the next day. Milagre! I know that as long as we work diligently and do our part, God always does His part. 

Anyway, have a great week! I love you all! 

Love, 

Élder Olivier!!!

Holy cow!

We received this email today.

This week was way crazy!! We went to Manaus for interviews with the mission president, ate a bunch of fish, and then came back to our area and went on splits with the APs. We had a ton of good experiences this week. We had the chance to baptize two people who were referrals from members and a young man who has been coming to church every single week (and also every single night to play soccer) for a rediculously long time but had never been baptized. This week was finally the week! I learned a ton from President Castro and from the assistents this week. It is amazing how much I learn every single day.

One of the coolest things of being on a mission is that there is ALWAYS something you can improve on: teaching, working with members, finding new investigators, planning, using time wisely, strengthening your own testimony, helping others to strengthen their testimonies of the gospel.......Every day I realize again and again that I´m not even close to being perfect but at least I can be a little better than I was yesterday. 

That´s really what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. No one is perfect (1 John 1:8) but through faith, repentance and baptism we can become perfected, little by little, because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. One day we can be like God is (Romans 8:16-17) because we are literally His children. The gospel is amazing and it is amazing how it changes lives. The church is true!

I hope you all have the best week ever this week! I love you all! 

Love, 

Élder Olivier!!!

Week!

This email will be kind of small! But this week was a good one, as usual! Right now I officially have been on my mission for over a year! This week we went to the temple and today is transfer day! I am.......not being transferred!!! I will be staying in Manacapuru AGAIN with Élder Fernandez, meaning that he will have been my companion with whom I stayed the longest.

Scripture! Isaiah 29:14 "Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellouswork among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."

We will proceed to do a marvellous work and a wonder among the people of Manacapuru!! Heck yeah!!

I love you all!! Love, Élder Olivier!!!!!

1 Year!!!!

We received this email on August 8, 2016.

Hi everyone!!!!

This week we pretty much worked even harder than ever before and we were blessed with four baptisms! We got three members to get into the water and baptize, which was way cool, especially because all three of them just got randomly hyped to baptize. Two of them are young men preparing to serve missions, and the third is a member of the bishopric. 

Every single day in the mission field is a blessing. Everything happens one day at a time, and there is no better feeling than to arrive at our apartment every night knowing that we did our very best that day. After my mission I´ll remember that ever day that I didn´t write in my journal, it was because we arrived at home at night tired out of our minds just wanting to collapse on the ground and sleep. Being on a mission is crazy 

Fotos: 

1 The other day at a member´s house there was a cacau!!! The actual flesh of the fruit doesn´t taste anything like chocolate (because chocolate is made from the seeds) but if you bite the seeds it is like the most bitter taste in the world. Everyone made fun of me because I bit the seeds but it was because I wanted to taste the chocolate!!!!

2&3 A turtle!!!!!

4 Só água só batiza!!!

I hope you all have the best week of your lives this week!!! I love you all!!!!

Love,

Élder Olivier!!!!!!

Festas na Terra e nos Ceus

We received this email on August 1, 2016.  

Hello everybody! 

This week was super awesome! We had a pretty cool experience this week. We have been working for a while to help our bishop´s sister´s family come back to church, and this week we finally had the opportunity to get them to come to church! Their kids have actually been coming to church for a couple of weeks, and we actually found their family because of them. We had the opportunity to baptize the bishop´s nephew and niece, and the bishop got to enter into the waters!!! Their family had lived for a while on the "estrada," basically on a farm far away from the city, so it has been a while since they have been to church. The father is not a member, and at first he was super reluctant to let his kids be baptized, but with a little convincing from his wife his heart was softened. Só alegria! 

Also this week there was a holiday here in Brazil called Festa Junina, and at church there was a huge activity where the primary did a special dance. It was super sweet and there was a lot of food.

I love you guys and hope you have a great week! Abração!

Élder Olivier! 

Story time

Below is Elder Olivier's email that we received today!  He's doing well and shared an amazing story!


Hi everyone!

This week was super cool, like every single week! We did splits with the elders that work in downtown Manaus, so my companion went there and I stayed here in Manacapuru. We had a baptism in the middle of the week of one of our investigators, the mother of a boy and a girl that are already members. It was a really special baptismal meeting!

Recently we have been teaching a man named Marcos. We were knocking doors one day when we talked to a young man who was outside his house. We asked if we could talk to him and his whole family, and he led us behind the house, to another house. We thought he was going to go into that house, but he went around it too, so we followed him to a third house, a tiny house made of wood that was close to a kind of swampy area. We never imagined that there would be a house there. We talked to the young man´s uncle, and he was super surprised and said that no one has ever visited his house before. We marked an appointment with him to leave a message on another day and invited him to church. Long story short, he went to church (wait what, he went to church?!?!), he loved it, and we taught him about the Restoration. He pretty much told us that as soon as we knocked on the door he already knew that the church was true, because he had been praying to know which church he should follow. And when we visited his house it was an answer to his prayer. Holy cow. He accepted the invitation to pray about the Book of Mormon and to prepare to be baptized. We left, and came back another day. This time he told us a story. He said that he wanted to know FOR SURE that our visit was an answer to his prayer. He said that when he prayed, he asked God that if we are really true representatives of Jesus Christ, that God would send rain. 

In this time of the year here in Amazonas, rain is pretty rare, because it is the dry season. It hasn´t rained here for weeks.

But this week it rained. A lot.

So much that it kind of messed up our work for a couple of hours on Wednesday, and we were kind of like "darn you nature!" 

Marcos said that when he finished praying, it started raining. And when he told us this story, he was kind of going crazy because he was so happy. 

So that is probably one of the coolest things that has happened on my mission so far. Miracles are real, but they only happen after we show our faith in God. And Marcos has a lot of faith. 

Scripture! -> Ether 12:6. 

I hope you all have a great week! Tchau!

Élder Olivier!