Q & A Time

Luis, aka NEGINHO. We think he looks like 50 cent. He was the most recent one to be baptized in his family. We just have to work with the mom now. He is 11-years-old and is a trooper. I asked him the other day why he really wanted to be baptized and he responded that he "couldn't wait any longer to answer the answer of the Lord." What a kid.  

This week we feature answers to questions I asked Elder Forsyth last week.  He needed a little reminding, but here we go.  

Question:  What do you feel are your biggest challenges right now?

Biggest challenge:  Satan likes to hurt investigators on the day before baptism. 

Question:  What have been the most important lessons you have learned from your first year? 

The lesson of patience has been a big one. I arrived in Brasil without speaking very much Portuguese to now, when I feel I can teach and communicate well. But things sometimes just don't turn out the way I plan them. You get one step from your final goal and you can't put enough force to get the job done because you have a huge weight on your foot. I see these hard final steps as challenges given from God to his little son Elder Forsyth and I am learning patience.

Question:  Has your perspective on service changed since you got there?

Completely. I see Christ's example and the work that He put into the first three years of ministry and the last three days of ministry. He knew that He would die as he left the garden of Gethsemane but fulfilled His purpose so that the real growth of mankind could be accomplished with justice and mercy. As He died he forgave those that crucified Him. How? I don't know. Just think about it for a little bit. If you knew you were going to die, would you help yourself or others? The first thing that would come to my mind is to do all the things that I was never able to do before. Like drive a Ferrari or give Stevie Wonder a hug, I would find a way to accomplish my own will. But would I put the same amount of effort into serving those that had never heard of my name, those who didn't know my character, who persecuted me, who didn't understand me, or who had already died? I don't think so. As I wake up each morning, I try to start my day off with the spirit so that the type of people that might seem like my enemies become my best friends and feel my love.

The Guarapuava Zone, without Elder Cesar.  BTW Elder Cesar was transferred and I am with my first American companion, Elder Skousen from North Carolina. 

Not Just Getting By

As I am here on the mission I hope to please the Lord, reviewing my day in my nightly prayers and asking, "What did I do wrong? Was this day a good one? What can I do to reach my potential? What can I do to help your children reach their potential?" As various prophets have described,  faith is hoping in the truth that is not seen or is maybe hidden from our eyes. But why is it hidden sometimes? Why can't I have a perfect knowledge as Alma describes? Maybe because I'm not widening up my spiritual vision. At times we are content with blurry vision because we can make everything out. We can recognize the faces of those we are familiar with and we can "get by". "Get by" is dangerous talk, my friends. "Get by" is like studying half the material so that you can get a C+ on the test of your life, just so that you can pass. I did that in high school sometimes. And everything leads to a consequence. I am learning now, on the mission, that the amount of work that I put into what I desire will affect the outcome. This outcome will reflect my internal desire. Getting by is not good enough for the Lord. That's why we need to take some vision tests and self- assess ourselves daily. Study, pray and ponder daily. It doesn't always have to be about spiritual things, even. Think about a choice you are about to make and then think, what will my 40-year-old self think of this? Option one, "wow I was such a goofball when I was younger. Why did I even think that way?" OR, option 2 says the following, "Yes, I was a rockstar in being wise." Our hope needs to widen and our disposition to do well in all that we do needs to grow. Study, ponder and pray, but with a desire to do well. Have faith and be strong. Don't let the little challenges drag you down. They add up really fast! Work hard and the blessings will follow.

love,

Elder Forsyth

Branch activities with the youth.  Recent convert Didi going for the goal.

Field of Dreams and a Bum Ankle

This week was a good one for sure. A baptism and lots of fun in inner-Prudentopolis. They speak a different language here sometimes. It is a mixture of Portuguese and Ukrainian. Jonathan would get the hang of it a little faster than I am. Prudentoplis is a Ukrainian colony that was settled many years ago. I think in the mid 1950's...can someone google search it for me? Obrigado. I am learning a little Ukrainian here and there. The majority of the heritage in this town is European and more people look like me. Here people think I am Brasilian because sometimes I put on their goofy accent. I don't know if I wrote how the accent sounds in the previous emails buts it is like a farmer from West Virginia. The Portuguese is super different. 

This week we grabbed a bus to eat lunch with Prudy´s first branch president. Here are some pictures of the bean fields. 

When I saw the bean field I thought of every bean as someone that has not yet had the chance of hearing the gospel. It was sad to think of at first but then I remembered that I was called to make a little difference with some of the beans. Elder Cesar was called to make the difference with some other beans and other elders and sisters all around the world were called to help other beans sprout. I then got really happy and started to run in the bean fields. 

Field of dreams

The field IS ripe and ready to harvest.  I am so grateful for the authority that I have to preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. At times I forget the huge responsibility that God has placed on my shoulders. Here are some difficulties that I would ask everyone's prayers for:

1. More focus on the work every minute.

2. To walk and not be weary. (it's not that I don't have energy, but we walk a ton)

3. Unconditional love for all.

4. No more judging of others.

5. Willingness to be corrected.

I would appreciate prayers for me to overcome these weak points so I can become a better missionary and a better servant of the Lord.

Ademir

Ademir was baptized this past week. Elder Cesar was working with this family before I got here and we only have to baptize one more to help all of the brothers and cousins. Please pray for the family Alves de Oliveira. 

Newest Prudentopolis members

Prudentopolis youth

We went for a jog this morning and the American twisted his ankle. But it is all good. I already placed the ice, anti-inflamitory spray, advil, and ankle brace to keep it in place. It does not hurt as bad as it did this morning. I was out for the count and asked for a blessing.

Stay sweet, everyone.  Thank you for all your prayers.

love,

Elder Forsyth

Minimalism and Definitions

So hot.  Waiting under a tree for our investigator to come to the door.

I loved your letter today, mom. The gospel is the direction for a minimalist life. The material things are drifting away as I grow older on the mission. 20 ties have fallen to 10. I am just giving things away as I go. As I give away my materialistic life I find that my spirit is a little bit fuller each day. I am trying to return to my sacred grove when I started my spiritual adventure, everyday. Something that has really helped me stay calm and happy here in Brazil, is daily repentance every single night before I sleep. Daily repentance and asking for forgiveness everyday from my companion, even when I don't know of anything wrong with my actions. I know that there is something more I can work on. 

Purdentopolis graffiti

My shirts are a little bit more yellow than usual. The shoes are a little bit more busted up. Missionary work {Elder Forsyth´s definition} -- When someone walks in the chilling rain and hot sun for 10 hours a day to invite someone to come unto Christ. Result: A lot of happiness and beat up slacks. Other definitions-- lots of laughing, sweating, guitar lessons for little kids, testifying with your soul, and lots of Brasilian hot dogs on the street. 

Edinéia´s baptism was great! Her sister was baptized 2 weeks ago and a couple of days back she took the leap of faith. Her progress has been super.....I'm not from Minnesota so let´s rephrase that, Her progress has been...just up? How would I say this in English? Her progress has been excellent. I wouldn´t have said that either when I was at home but, whatever. It was excellent. She is so much happier than happy and is taking an English course with her sister from Brother Daniel. A Peruvian Japanese Brasilian. He is the man. 

I love seeing how the gospel slides in perfectly with any type of situation. Sadness to happiness, you can always be helped through applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It just takes some prerequisites. Humility and a willingness to change. Those feelings lead to a world that, generally, many people are not familiar with. A lot of us don't want to change our habits and we think we have nothing to learn because we are content with our current life style. Let me tell you something. I'm not the same guy that came to Brasil 8 months ago. When I arrived I knew that I had to have this attitude in order to improve my at home American habits. Humility and a willingness to change helped me transform into a better person. I know that I still have much to learn and I'm not the best missionary. But I do know that I am surely different than when I arrived. 

love,

Elder Ian

p.s. You translated my portuguese perfectly, momma. Portuguese doesn't really have very kind words to describe goofy people. So, we grabbed a goofy fruit name and now we call each other "Goiaba" It's just a thing between some missionaries in the field and the young men of the ward, here in Prudentópolis.

Only Miracles

Batismo!

Sent away to the forest

Só milagres. Wooo -  just miracles here in Prudentopolis. I've been transferred to the other side of the word. All the way over to the interior of Paraná. It is the furthest area from the mission office. Só festa....just kidding, But it's a blast here. I've been waiting to be sent away to the forest. I was in the city for 8 months..in the same zone. Here I am now, in Prudentopolis. I'M FREE!

wait. what? Welcome to Prudentopolis

I am finishing up Elder Cesar´s training. We are already best friends. He is from Capital São Paulo and likes Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Eagles, and John Mayer ....brothers: send him emails. 

We have an awesome companionship vibe. The work here is speeding up really fast in our teenie weenie branch. We have 4 baptisms scheduled. Some that were being prepared in the past and some that we have found already. I am so excited! We helped with a youth activity at the chapel (The branch doesn't have a huge budget) and we bought some popcorn and tang for the kids as they played futebol and ping pong. Elder Cesar and I taught some of the young men guitar riffs. It was so great to see the kids have so much fun inviting their friends to the activity. They were little missionaries out there. Elder Cesar is 24 years old and we have the same humor and like the same things. It's like Elder Bastos but a little more goofy. Elder Bastos is the Cole Porter side and Elder Cesar is the rock and roll side. 

Cesar and Forsyth

Miracles in Parigot de Souza

Deivid was baptized in a style of surprise. Thursday I got the call from the Assistants..."Elder Forsyth you´re being transferred." Actually, I forgot...it wasn't a call. It was in person. Elder Vighetto and Elder Oaks, (Zone Leader) sent me to the mission office to grab some teaching materials and a fan because of my sweat accumulation. I walked in and Elder Alves (Assistant to the President) gave me a super strange look. That look that says, "what are you doing here? I just bought your bus tickets for Prudentopolis,"  Yeah, that look. He told me right then and there that I was being transferred to the interior. I got super sad because Deivid´s baptism was scheduled for Saturday. They told me that I was to to depart at 8 o´clock in the morning on Friday. I hurried home to pack my bags and around 6 o'clock we started to hit the streets again. Our baptismal interview with Deivid was marked for 8 pm. As the minutes were drawing closer to 8, I hatched a plan. Let's just perform the baptism after the interview. Super de boa. 

We showed up in the chapel and Deivid was there. I told him about my transfer and before I could say prudento...he said, "let´s just have the baptismal service now." I was in shock. We called the bishop. He came. All of the young women and young men and leaders of the church were at the church already (that was weird). And when I ran to the baptismal font to fill it.... it was already full, and....hot. (Fonts take two hours to fill.) I asked everyone, "Who filled the font?" "No one" all of them replied. I literally asked everyone. The last baptism was last week for Bairro Novo but they drained it. And even if it were full, the water wouldn't be hot. A miracle from God saying, just baptize. The meeting was extremely spiritual and to add some more flavor, we found two people on the street on our way to grab our white ties and pants. We invited them to the late-night baptism. They accepted and stayed until the end. The baptism end around 9:50 pm. 

Deivid

I am super excited to work with Elder Cesar. Ele é uma goiaba. (Ed note: This translates to "he is a guava."  Portuguese help, anyone?)

Love,

Elder Forsyth.

p.s. be happy:)

adeus elder costa. só tristeza

We have a hammock at home.  So happy.

Things are heating up

At the internet cafe

Prayer and Fasting

I know that the Lord´s promises will be fulfilled through our faith, patience, and diligence. Why are these topics so important? I'll tell you why. We have our friend David that we've been teaching and it has been going super well. We found him in Sacrament meeting. His friend invited him to the meeting to hear her talk (discourse, speech) and he happily accepted the invitation. As missionaries do, we ran (speed- walked) toward him to get to know him a little bit better, strike up a conversation and then jot down his address. 

After the meeting we headed over to Irmã Vera's house to eat lunch. It was Churrasco. Mmmmmmmm so tasty. And to our surprise, we found David there, chowing down on some meat and chatting it up with the family. I thought to myself, "we meet again...lets make an impression." This all happened back when I was training Elder Martins from Port Alegre RS and Elder Pesantes from Ecuador. Our message after lunch was centered on "everything happens for a reason / our purpose in life." I think the message and the spirit of truth caught his attention, because the next week we started to teach him in Vera´s house, with help from her son Jossip, who served a mission in Boston. The first lesson that we gave him was about the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He liked it alot and in the end accepted our invitation to be baptized as we read 2 Nephi 31 (from the first verse until the one that says "follow thou me"- I am not completely sure if it says that in English because I'm translating from the Portuguese).  We held several Family Home Evenings with him and other families of the ward and it seemed to be going really well. And then he traveled to São Paulo for 2 weeks. Ahhh, my hopes and dreams were crushed for a little while. We called him many times but he never picked up. Lots of waiting and struggling with my faith. This past week I really cultivated my faith in Christ and his atonement. David came back a week and a half ago and called us up. We started to teach him again and it wasn't the same, ya know. I wasn't feeling as confident and I think the spirit wasn't completely with me. I was worrying too much and wasn't trusting in the Lord. Just in my own skills to teach and speak Portuguese well. 

The spirit was there enough to touch his heart, however.  He accepted another date for baptism and it was like the first time. Super firm and all. Elder Costa and I have never prayed harder for anyone than we have for David a week ago. We started with a fast and a pact with the Lord. I've never prayed so much on the street and throughout the day. The mission has helped me improve my prayers and intimacy with the Lord. I feel like I have a friend that is always open to hear my words and lift me up. This week has left my knees red and a little bit purple. :) I have never thought of so many routes that I could take to help someone love, understand and live the gospel. 

As we met with him more, it seemed like the answer promised in Moroni's invitation to read, reflect and pray about the Book of Mormon wasn't coming. This past week David told us that the Book has helped him repent and make drastic changes in his life but the confirmation that the invitation contains was not coming. It was difficult to find an answer for him. As we prayed and made lesson plans, answers were revealed through our thoughts and scriptures came to our minds. Events that happened to me back at home helped me make a lesson plan. Mormon messages that my brothers have shared with me and testimonies from my family started to flood my mind as if they had happened just last week. David A Bednar -- "Patterns of Life, part 3" and "Come Join With Us" --Elder Uchtdorf -were some of the talks that came to my mind. Notes from my mission prep class that my mom sent me helped me prepare for our lessons with David. I found some sweet annotations of patterns of revelation and how to receive personal revelation.  Mosiah 5:1-2 helped him understand that his desire for repentance and change were signs from the Holy Ghost.  Alma 32 helped him understand that his faith grows like a seed and even when it transforms into a tree he still will not have a perfect knowledge. All in all he is super excited to be baptized this Saturday and the baptism meeting should be a good one. Jossip and I will create a special musical number and there should be enough food to fill up the entire ward. I am feeling great, everyone at home! The work of the Lord is heating up along with temperature in Brasil. (Don't worry, I am using sun block.) David felt the spirit of the Lord this week and he knows that the church is true. Without faith, diligence and patience.... and enduring the end, I wouldn't be so happy right now. Go happiness!

Love, Elder Forsyth

p.s. An announcement for all the children -- eat your vegetables. You may find a lack of them on your mission. Pray everyday. And drink lots of milk.

A little sleepy

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Rejuvenate your elf.... yourself

Woo! My health is on the upward bend. I am feeling a whole bunch better. In my last email I was feeling the nausea from lunch and a growing headache from a lack of water. I feel so much better now. The word on the street and from Sister Fernandes is that the plumbing system in Curitiba is the best in Brasil. (sidenote: my space bar is putting up a really good fight with my thumb. me desculpe agora.) (editor's note:  I think this is what's going on in the post title) I am feeling super healthy now and I have been watching my diet this past week and my system is feeling much cleaner.

A couple days ago I was feeling super beat. I put my hand on the sidewalk to get a feeling for the heat and it seemed to be radiating. I walked over to a park bench to pull out my scriptures and take a look at what the Lord wanted me to. I felt like I couldn't go much further and opened up to D&C 10, which gives some statements about the health law that the Lord has declared:

4  Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate; but be diligent unto the end.

5 Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.

I was basically being stretched out to my limits and wasn't doing the work very well. I took this as a sign to take a nap. We were super close to home so the walk back wasn't very difficult. I returned back to my childhood memories by taking a great nap and when I woke up I felt rejuvinated. The word rejuvinated has some interesting sub-words. re- to start again. juvin- looks like the word jovem in português, which means young. So I returned back to my childhood memories of feeling young again. :)

I am getting a bunch of e-mails from various people. I feel so lame that I can't respond to every single one because of the lack of time. I apologize. The mountain of e-mails makes me feel pretty special, though. They are great support for the difficult times on the mission. Thank you to all who wrote them! 

The work here in Parigot picked up with Elder Costa's arrival. Our investigators that were a little spiritually weak... this past week they have been fortified with a great deal of spiritual strength. It has been a blessing. It feels good when you work hard and the results come.

I gave a talk last week in sacrament meeting. The scary part was that the assignment was given just an hour before. Improvise a talk in a diferente linguagem. My prayers pleading for the guidance of the spirit were answered. The words that I needed were given to me when I sought earnestly. The talk was morphing constantly with several topics and stupid jokes for the first 5 minutes, but when I started to pray in my heart, the talk morphed into a lecture about our potential. Ether 12:27 was used for sure. The first phrase of Ether 12:27 really catches my eye. As we grow closer to the Savior, we will be able to notice our progress as we recognize our weaknesses. The Lord will manifest them (our weaknesses) so that we can have a constant improvement. If you are quick to abandon your sins it means you are virtuous. If you are slow...well then you a have a little bit more to learn, keep at it. Do not feel embarrassed if you recognize your sins super quick. It means the filter in your spirit is working very well. It detects the dirt with ease.   

Elder Costa is hilarious and is full of missionary spirit which has helped me out a bunch. He has four months on the mission and knows how work well on the street. I have learned so much from him.

Elder Forsyth

p.s. I GOT MY PACKAGES! ALL 3! The one sent in Oct, and the 2 from Nov. AND, I got letters from: Meyers Family, Jex Family, Pierce Family, dear elderx2, Eric and family (Christmas card), Nielson Family (Gentry got married it seems....wow, I remember when I was 9 and he was 10. I look up to Gentry a bunch. What a studmuffin), Olson Family, Stevensen Family, Botts (it was super cool to get many letters from other missionaries!), and Nancy Harris.   

Happy New Year from Sitio

Elder Costa and Elder Forsyth

Transfers have passed this morning and Elder Andrade was transferred to the interior of Paraná. A place called Villa Bella (Beautiful Town) in the city of Guadapuava. They´re baptizing a bunch there. I hope the best for him there in the land of the Brasilian forest. I am still in Parigot de Souza with Elder Costa from the Amazons. I am liking the just Brasilian companion thing. I am able to work on my language skills more and also help Brasilians feel more comfortable around me. Elder Costa is from the north of Brasil, so that automatically makes him hilarious.  I grabbed a bus to the Pinherinho Terminal and without fail, there he was laughing up a storm cracking some jokes with some other elders. Elder Bastos is in the Luz Stake ("Light" stake). He is the only Zone Leader there and he will train an Americano greenie. He is super excited.

 

As for me I am doing well...sort of.  I feel a little sick.  I think it is because of the sun I am soaking in everyday. I need to grab some more sun block for this transfer. But it'll turn out all right. I´m still the District Leader here in Sitio Cercado and we got a bunch of powerful missionaries in our district and zone. I am really excited to go on some divisions. Osternack got two power missionaries - Elder Larson from Sacramento and Elder Tavares from Santos São Paulo.

 

What I would love from everyone back at home is prayers of heath. So that I can work with all of my might, mind, heart, and strength. I just want to hit the pavement running, talking to everyone.

 

New Year's was a blast and a half. It was super hard to sleep here in Sitio. Professional fireworks are completely legal for anyone to buy. You can imagine the loudness that went on from 11:00 night time to 3:00 in the morning. It was basically impossible to sleep peacefully. We all woke up after not being able to take it anymore and, like brothers, played some chess while drinking guaraná. It was a huge remembrance of playing Risk at home during new year and drinking apple cider.

Sitio Cercado

Everyone -  Let's work really hard to bring others to Christ. That means sacrificing. Christ sacrificed himself to bring redemption over sin and death. I think we can all work before play and sacrifice 2 minutes of our day to bear our testimony. I just wanna work really hard. But I need some prayers of heath and strength. 

 

Love, Elder Forsyth