Miracles happen

Miracles happen.

 

After that super boo-hoo letter I wrote home about throwing up the the middle of the Portão terminal, alone and crying over our lack of success in the area, I started to self assess myself. I read Alma 5 and started to burn myself. Does burn makes sense? In português it does. Eu me quemei...I not sure.... but I'm kidding about reading Alma 5. We use the word "burn" when our leaders start to.....speak words of harsh encouragement. I don't know how to say it in English any more.  

 

We are finding investigators and marking baptisms. Miracles happen when you self assess, pray, self assess again, pray, make a plan, pray, revise your plan, pray, walk around a little, kick the soccer ball in the back yard, revise the plan, pray and say, "I think I'm good now."  Then you splash some water in your face after you look in the bathroom mirror and say, "Am I the missionary my family thinks I am?" pray some more, commit yourself to be humble and obedient, eat a banana from the produce market in front, see a cockroach in the bathroom and then leave your house towards the street. Then miracles happen but you have to pray a lot and think of the three names your represent on the name tag. My last name, Christ, and His church. Not my first name or the high school I went to. I think I have forgotten a lot about myself and I have remembered more of who I really am. I'm no longer that half way hipster kid that played a lot of guitar in college and had a nasty mustache for a time, or the high school goof ball. But who I really am is a missionary of my Heavenly Father who made me before he sent his son, Christ, to create the world. I was already pre-ordained to carry out His work here in Parigot de Souza. I am a missionary that eats a lot of ice cream and speaks a lot of Portuguese. I want to be like my brothers and work my butt off.  I love my mission.  I love helping people feel good. Feeling good doesn't mean giving them hug. Feeling good means a change of heart so that your heart always feels great. Give something so special that will bring a happiness without end to someone who thinks that life is the end. I have a testimony of second chances. I have a testimony that anyone has the chance to become a rich man. The wisdom that one can obtain in Book of Mormon is more valuable than the belongings of the richest man in the world. Riches does not mean a Ferrari. It means goals. It means purpose. And it for sure means happiness.

 

Luan, our recent convert, has received the Aaronic Priesthood and passed the sacrament.  Yessssssss.  His super sweet blue suit blows everyone out of the water. He is progressing very well. He is super humble and does many things independently. He is only 14 years old and he does things right.

 

My face is brown and my legs are white.

 

Love,

Elder Forsyth

zzzzzzzzzz

Luan.  Looks a little like Will Smith, right?

 

The tale of how I lost it in the Portao Terminal

Elder Forsyth got reaaaal sick. 

So, Tuesday I received the call from the AP´s to head over to Santa Catarina to interview someone preparing for baptism. At first I thought, why would they need a District Leader in Curitiba to perform a baptismal interview in Santa Catarina (in another state- it's a 4 hour trip with the bus switches in the various terminals)? But I realized that I was training two  missionaries. While I would be heading out for to travel, sleeping in the elders' home and returning back home by bus, the work wouldn't be slowed down at all. I was super excited to cross the border and snap some pictures in SC because several elders that have been serving there have been saying only good things about the nature and the scenery. During Zone Conference I started to feel a little strange but didn't think think too much of it. I coordinated with the mission secretaries and the trip was all paid for. I had to change buses at the Portão Terminal. When got to the terminal I ran for the nearest trash can and started to vomit in front of everyone. Just think.  An American missionary alone, throwing up in front of several Brasilians...in a trash can. The sad part was I didn't receive that hand on the forehead technic that my mom always used so that I didn't have to strain my extremely long neck. Everyone just stared at me. Me being me, I felt so good afterwards that I started to laugh. It was like when I was little and I would be so nervous to get a shot at the doctor's office. Even before the needle penetrated my skin, I would start to laugh super hard. It was the same thing. Everyone who was staring at me started to laugh, too. I gave myself a few moments to walk around the terminal to see if I could continue traveling. I could not. To make a long story short... one thing lead to another and I stayed a full day on a mattress in the mission headquarters, vomiting. The next day my companions picked me up and I took it easy for the next three days. As I was stuck at home with a member basically babysitting me, I had a lot of time to think.  I think I went a little nuts. Missionaries that want to hit the pavement and preach the restored gospel but they can't because of uncontrollable causes are really sad missionaries. 

My family has been writing me the best lines today. I was feeling really down in the dumps, getting sick and looking at our results this past week. It is the first time on my Brasilian mission that none of our investigators are progressing. I felt extremely discouraged yesterday. Training two others, being the district leader and being part of a ward that does not have the tradition of helping the missionaries in their blood. I felt like I was in a huge hole that would be too difficult to climb out of. My super hero-like families sent some great spiritual and emotional back up this week. Eric sent me a a great thought process on perfectionism. Eric, I too have been feeling the pressures. I was thinking the other day that I have been doing my job as a district leader terribly and that I have been training two missionaries in an area that can be cultivated just a little bit more to give them a shinier eye of success as they are starting their life changer called "the mission".  I think I was focusing more on the numbers side of things and not on the ministering. The Lord gave me a wake up call yesterday. As a prayed really hard for more strength so that I could endure more challenges, I felt my self-development grow. The Lord is the first one I go to now to seek counsel. And it never fails. As I continue to talk to Him first, before anyone else, I can see a real growth within myself. 

My mom sent me the story of Alma. A prophet of the Lord that fell in the oh so easy hole of discouragement. 

Alma 8:14-15  ...while Alma was this weighed down with sorrow, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying:

Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for  thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him.  Behold, I am he that delivered it unto you.

This helped a ton, momma! This week we have no baptismal dates lined up and that's super scary. No one is progressing. Everything will start from scratch. A lot of knocking doors and fasting has to been done here. I know that we can perform a miracle here. But first we have to create a miracle in ourselves. We cannot be the examples that others look toward and we cannot give inspiration if we are not inspired. Personal conversion has to come first. Am I keeping all the rules I can follow? Am I keeping the commandments of the Lord? Why am I here on the mission? What plant can I grow here in Brasil that I can take with me to the United States fully gardened and beautiful? Without self assessments on the mission, you are lying to yourself. Let's perform a miracle here in Brasil. In rain or sickness (and it is always shiny in Brasil).

Love, Elder Forsyth

p.s. stay sweet and eat your vegetables. I need to buy and eat more. 

p.p.s.  sorry, no pictures this week.  Hopefully next week.

Sadness and Joy

So this is my profession for these two years. I am here on the mission to spread the gospel to those who feel a lack of Christ´s love. I hope all of you can get a little of the next paragraph. É o Seguinte. It is the following. I received the news that one of my favorite Sunday School teachers passed away this past week. I don't know what to say other than I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There isn't anything else that keeps me going so strong every day. At times the reality of the world can get to me, of course. Dedication to our Heavenly Father is key in the process of overcoming the mountains that seem to just appear in our life. The other day I was explaining how I overcame the loss of my father when I was 16 years old. I had the foundation to call upon...the study of scripture and the culture of heart-felt prayer, but I never put all of my most well-tuned instruments to work. I used the analogy of a captain that had studied and studied and studied the art of warfare but had never left the port to go to war. He was the top of his class, always the first to respond the hardest of questions but even he had never set foot on the great man of war. As he encountered his first battle, the strategy of success was not his first instinct. Like us, sometimes we don't turn back to what we know and feel the most -- God. He started to panic as the canon balls slammed into the helm and he started to call upon others. But people fail sometimes. The captain then remembered that he had a foundation of studies and battle tactics that were engraven into his mind since he was a young man in officer training. But those plans had never been placed into practice. As he remembered and called upon God to help him remember all  of his hard study, he managed to overcome the enemy and help others along the way because of his knowledge. The sails started to receive the wind correctly and the captain started to navigate. As a 20-year-old missionary I don't have a lot of experience with life but I have learned a couple of things on the mission. We are not alone. Never ever, and never ever again. When I heard that my dear friend Connie Tippits had passed on, my first reaction was to pray to God to help everyone back at home. The feelings of comfort came over me again. It was like reliving the first time I prayed to my Heavenly Father to know if I could really see my dad again. The feeling of joy came over me and I just came home. I was nearly in his presence. And I cannot deny it. There are some things that are hard to believe in this life. Some people do not believe in God. I know He exists because I have felt him next to me in the times when I needed him most. But I know for a surety that I will see my dear friend once again and that she is in a place where she can grow and be free from the heartaches of this world. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he knows every single one of us. He died in our place so that we wouldn't have to bear these spiritual and physical pains forever. Hey, everyone at home -- remember this:

Doctrine and Covenants 121:1-8

O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place?

 2 How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye, behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?

 3 Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?

 4 O Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven, earth, and seas, and of all things that in them are, and who controllest and subjectest the devil, and the dark and benighted dominion of Sheol—stretch forth thy hand; let thine eye pierce; let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and thy bowels moved with compassion toward us.

 5 Let thine anger be kindled against our enemies; and, in the fury of thine heart, with thy sword avenge us of our wrongs.

 6 Remember thy suffering saints, O our God; and thy servants will rejoice in thy name forever.

 7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

love,

Elder Forsyth

p.s.  You are in my prayers!

The future Elder Suarez

Luan's baptism

Dear Family and Friends.

Woooo! We baptized Luan! Adston Luan Alves Suarez. He is an awesome young man and will serve a great mission here in 4 years. The other day while we were teaching him he asked out of nowhere, "so....my name tag will say Elder Suarez like yours?" Hahaha it was awesome to see the super fast progress. We found him this transfer and he was baptized yesterday! And now he already wants to serve a mission! Powerful stuff right here. 

It was an awesome Baptismal service!

This transfer has flown by and I already have 8 months on the mission. I have learned so much in such a little time and I feel a little guilty for not writing it all down. I need to pick up my journal again and write more about the little miracles I see each day. I think I will feel more content with my mission and the work of the Lord as I see the little things with a bigger lens. Often the small and little acts of faith perform the greatest of miracles that will stay with you till the eternities. The simple things come from our father above.

 

I will recieve another new missionary fresh from the MTC. So it will be Elder Pesantes, Elder _______, and Elder Forsyth. Wooo-hoo, training once again!! I am still District Leader which I find to be super stressful at times but I have been learning and applying the atonement of Jesus Christ more in my life. As I interview people preparing to be baptized, I have spoken to a couple of people that have had tough backgrounds and weighed down feelings about life. I have seen a transformation in some of them in a matter of 10 minutes. Just speaking with them about the pure love of Christ and making plans with them so that they can overcome their difficulties has been something that has changed my life for the better. I feel like I have grabbed a little more patience. I am definitley not the same Ian that I was before. My capacity to love has increased and I have been extremely humbled through the process of repentance and sanctification. I feel more happy!

Fun story. I was chowing down at a ward churrasco (bbq) and I saw a member with a long board cruising around the parking lot....shredding the gnar. I had to ask....to make a long story short, I hopped on the board with my side bag and the weight threw me off the long board. I am sorry but I completely fell on my face. It was a good laugh for the members of the ward. 

Vamos Lá 

Much love Elder Forsyth

It's a Great Ride

Zona Jardim Do Sol

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

I don't have too many things to say this week, but here are a few phrases to let everyone know that I am alive.

This week as been a great one. The temple was the highlight of it all. The light that is present in the temple is like the warmth of the sun but it is so clear that your mind is in a constantly pure state. Like a running river. I don't think I am capable of explaining the happiness that the temple brings me. It is a happiness that is real. It is instant gratification from God that never leaves you.

Woo-hoo: baptism this week.  Here we go.  His name is Luan. He is 14 years old but he has the mind of a 24 year old. We found him the first week were here. The week that was really tough for two new missionaries in a new area.  Frustration was on overload. Hey, but now I feel super good. As we taught him and taught him we saw his life change. He started to recognize errors quicker and wanted to change as fast as possible. When he recieved a testimony in Sacrament meeting he told us and his eyes were different. More happiness is arriving with almost each visit. He counts on his fingers and then does it again to show how many days he has been keeping the word of wisdom. Watching the personal prayer growth has been super great too. The first time he prayed in front of us he was so scared. Day by day he has been praying alone and asking for strengths. The day he told us that he would say the opening and closing prayer I started to cry because it was the first thing he said before the lesson conversation began. The gospel of Jesus Christ isn't a simple recipe but it is a recipe for real happiness and eternal life.  If you follow the precepts that Christ organized it is impossible to fail. When all other things fail in your life remember the pure love of Christ is the light that cannot be blown out.  Charity.  And grab ahold really tight because the sensation of forgiveness, redemption, and true happiness will throw you for a wild ride. It is a great ride, don't you worry.

Love, 

Elder Forsyth

p.s. stay sweet.

What a Week

Brazil Curitiba Temple

Everybody Everybody. What a week! Me disculpe (Forgive me). We switched our p-day just for this week because....drum roll...we went to the temple today! I was feeling a lack in my life. It was a lot of love on the part of the President and a lot of luck on my side. The missionaries that are inside the city of Curitiba were the only ones permitted to head up to the temple this week. Parigot de Souza is inside the town/district of Sitio Cercado which is part of Curitiba. It is in the very south of the city and is neighbors with Osternack.

Curitiba Temple

The temple was an excellent opportunity for me to leave all of my worries and troubles on the table. This week Elder Pesantes and I have been almost literally hunting for people to teach. Through our earnest prayers and fasting-fests we were able to find some great people who are open to receiving the message of the restored gospel. These families were found just a couple days ago. And today I was able to ponder about the struggle of finding people, pray to the Lord, and receive the comfort that I have been seeking. For the past 7 months I have been longing to go to the temple and the wait was worth it. I felt an overwhelming peace cast itself around me while i prayed and prayed and prayed...and prayed a little bit more. 

A different kind of lack

Fasting has led to the result of loosing weight. SOS. All of the eyes that are reading this letter and not getting too much out of it because of the poor writing, remember this. ---->family and friends:  send cookies and teddy bears! Perhaps teddy grahams too! por favor! Seriously, though, fasting works. It brings happiness to the soul. You need a spirit stronger than your body so that you are able to overcome the daily trials of life. 

Mind blown

We taught a lesson today that blew my mind. We found a man from Haiti the other day on the street and we brought him down to the good ol' church house for a meeting. Turns out he was already going to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a different ward here in the Curitiba Sul Mission. We didn't receive a referral for him and his teaching records were not passed down from missionary to missionary. The other Elders had a baptism and we wanted Stephen to be there. It was extremely difficult to understand him and teach him because he only speaks French and Creole.  He speaks a little Portuguese but not enough to understand what we are staying in return. We invited him and he said, "for sure I have never seen a baptism and was never baptized before. Let's go." He said this in a mixture of French and Portuguese. But I got the idea. A week before I had grabbed The Book of Mormon in French for my own learning from the headquarters of the mission. I had it with me at the time. While the baptism was  getting started, we began to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon in French. As I explained a little bit in Portuguese and indicated the key parts of the Book of Mormon´s promises, he looked at me and said exactly what he felt in his heart. In his broken Portuguese he said, "Ask? and I receive?" "Pedir, e eu recebo?" I felt the spirit so strongly in that moment. The language of the spirit is so much stronger than the language of men. We all have a connection with our Heavenly Father - we just have to turn it on and be worthy so that when it is turned on, others can feel its presence. 

We marked a baptismal date and a time to teach Stephen at home. We arrived at the gate, clapped, and waited for our Haitian friend. As he received us at the door and guided us up the stairs to his apartment, we found a little group of Haitians that have traveled all the way from Haiti to Curitiba. It was a long travel. Boats, cars, hitchhicking, bus. As he told us about what they went through, it seemed nuts. I understood what they were saying because of Stephen's friend, Wilson, who speaks Portuguese fluently. It was a relief because we were planning on teaching the principles of the gospel in the simplest form so that the information would be communicated effectively. Wilson was our translator in the lesson.  As he transmitted the words over to his buddy, I could feel the spirit as he spoke about Joseph Smith for the first time. The best part about it was that the first time he learned about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel was through telling the story to his friend, Stephen. A testimony was born last night. They both will read the Book of Mormon in French and ask God.  Pray from them. Pray, pray, praayy.

Imitating the missionaries in my district

Thought of the past 5 minutes: Challenges and trials are our gates to success. We don't really know our capacity to support a problem until one hits us in the face. The tempest of life was already navigated by our captain Jesus Christ. The waves of temptation and heartbreak already hit the boat of Jesus Christ. He felt the weak parts and He fixed the holes of his own boat. He has already landed on the shore with a perfect boat. Now he is the light house. Our brothers that are sinking - will we rescue them or leave them to the side? We can experience trials and so can our friends. But will we let it consume the boat or will we survive by sailing the course of Christ? 

That was a summary of my talk I gave in sacrament meeting in the Parigot de Souza ward. If you sail the course of Christ, you may experience weakness,  but you will never fail. 

As Lighting McQueen once said, "ca-chow"

Stay sweet. Life moves pretty fast....you might miss it.

Love your elder in Brazil,

Elder Forsyth

Accents make everything better

Happiness

Hey everyone at home!

 

The pictures have returned. I jogged over to the handy dandy man that works in the lan house (computer cafe) and he (as he said in Portuguese) "Eu liberei todas os fotos do cativeiro, no qual a gente chama o carta de memória. Com certeza você pode ver os fotos de novo,"  "I liberated all of the fotos from captivity, in which "the people" (commonly used in Brasil as "we") call the memoria card. With surety you can see the fotos again."  The way he explained what he did was super slick. Gostei, Gostei. I liked it, I liked it.

I can't see the fotos on my câmera but I can view them on the computer.

 

super quick sob story

I won't burden you with the trials that have been happening but here is a....

1 to 2 sentence sob story:

This week has been a week of trials and a lack of results that we have been looking for. Wah (one tear drop).

 

Hey...hey hey...woah woah woahh, but on the bright side I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I was called by a prophet that has confidence in me to carry out the work and bring the light of the gospel into the lives of others, making them laugh, sharing stories of how the gospel has changed my life for the better...etc. I feel great now!

Accents

For those who remember that stage I went through when I would frequently speak in a Russian accent, know that the accent skills have payed off. Someone thought I was from Paraná.  It was the first time that someone said, "You only look Américan, the voice is a different story."  Either he was making fun of me or he thought I was a Brasilian. Let's go with the Brasilian. I have been soaking everything in like a sponge like Eric told me to do and I have acquired many different accents that can be found in different regions of Brazil. Paulista, Nordestino, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paranaese. The accent here is super silly to me. The people here think is so funny to hear what they sound like. So I try to humor them.  It is a mix of an irish/spaniard accent.

Forgive me, this computer is spell checking my English and changing it back to the language of origin. So if you find many Portuguese words, sorry.

 

Life in Parigot de Souza

We live on the principal road which has all of the stores, restaurants, street vendors, and pizzerias. All of this is a plus but sometimes it is difficult to find people at home during the afternoon because it is pretty industrialized here. Everyone works their tail off. We are finding people that are super great and ready to receive the restored gospel but their family says something or we can never find them again. New goal for Elder Forsyth. Ask for their number when I speak with them.

 

I have decided that this p-day I will self evaluate,  thinking of where I want to be when I have 20 more years under my belt. A testimony during the first Sunday of the month really hit me. It was a young man preparing to serve a mission and he started to speak of his actions. "What would my 40-year-old self think right now, and how can I change my disposition towards the better so that I can better myself more quickly and more effectively?" 

Here we go.

 

Tchau Tchau todo mundo.

 

Te-amo

 

Elder Forsyth

 

p.s. Always ask that handy dandy Brasilian computer expert to help you with your problems