November 11, 2013: Miracles Happen

The area is to say the least, difficult. haha I asked one of the APs yesterday if he knew anything about my area and he said its the pit of the mission for teaching and baptizing.  Of course, my first area is the hardest when I don't know anything, but it's probably for the best because it's going to make me grow the most.  

The people here are not very arrogant, but because they have more money in this area, they dont think they need anything else. To  find someone willing to accept us in their home legitly is a miracle!  The ward is super nice and we are trying to work with them as much as possible!  We want to have a family nightish thing each night during the week in a less active member's home with members or investigators to try to incorporate them. 

It's been hard for me these past couple days because we had a baptism set up, but it fell through an hour before. I also think that I'm the most homesick on p-days because we don't do much and so I have a lot of time to think about how much I miss you. By the end of the week, I do much better.  

Do you think you could send me the conference talk a couple years ago that Elder D. Todd Christofferson wrote about the currant bush and seeking God's loving correction?  We had an investigator come to church yesterday and it might as well have been Christmas. It's weird how happy I was because he exercised his faith and put it in Christ.  Milagres aconteceu! (Miracles happen)

I don't know if it's because my companion is district leader and we have to do a lot in the mornings, but it's hard to get consecutive hours to study.  I'm figuring out when and what I can study at certain times of the day.  My companion is pretty cool!  He actually was Josh Wild's roommate in the CTM so that's pretty crazy!  We found some new people to teach. Honestly, if people let us in or we actually have a lesson it's like freakin' Christmas morning, dude, I can't even tell you!

For people you are working with about the Gospel, pray for them by name asking Heavenly Father what you can do to help them.  This will bring you to a conclusion to what you should do to help.  But if anything, invite them.  Directly say will you come to church, will you do this or that.  When you invite someone directly, there is no escape route, only a yes or no.  And don't be discouraged if it doesn't work out the first time.  If you turn to Preach My Gospel in the ninth chapter it talks about finding people and in the last section it talks about not becoming discouraged because it will weaken your faith. 

The food's been good here, but you don't eat breakfast or dinner very much here so yeah.  The struggle is real in Brasil. I didn't realize how much I liked cold weather until it's 90 degrees at 7 in the morning hahah. Can't wait to see your smiling faces at Christmas....I can Skype, but only if you guys want to.  My president is  straight up sweet - he's so cool.  I'll talk to you next week when I'm 19 hahah weird.

Love you with all my heart. Don't worry about me so much!  I feel your love every second of every day. 

November 4, 2013: First Week in the Field

My companion is Elder K. Silva.  He has been out in the mission for about 3 months.  He's really good and knows what he is doing.  This week has been extremely hard for me.  This first week has been incredibly difficult on me - probably the hardest week of my life. I don't know what it is but when we are studying in the morning all I can think about is you guys back home. I thought I was home sick in the CTM, but this is so much worse.

What makes it worse is that we are opening up a new area and we don't have much to work with when it comes to people to teach.  Saturday was probably the worst day of the mission me and my companion( who actually was roommates with Josh Wild in the CTM) planned out our day to be talking with an investigator every 30 minutes during the day.  We went to every single house and not a single person wanted to talk today and the other half said they didn't want to learn anymore.  It says in Preach My Gospel, (I think Elder Holland) something like, when your investigator chooses not to have lessons anymore you will be devastated. That pretty much sums it up.

Opening up a new area has been tough because I'm struggling hard to say anything right because I don't have a clue of what my companion or the people are saying, but it has gotten better in the 6 days I've been here. I'm really trying to focus right now on one hour at a time - what I need to do each hour to be a good missionary. I get what you are saying about the first couple months pretty much beat you into the ground because it already has.

Ponta da Praia

My area is Ponta da Praia, which means point of the beach.  The area is average size but we walk probably 10-15 miles a day because we are trying to find people.

Ville da France

 It's a "richer" area.  Neymar Jr who plays for the Brazilian national team and is the star of Brazil  lived in one of the places in my area.  It's called Ville da France on Epitacio Pessoa - it's super nice.

We live on 1177 Pedro Lessa on the third floor.  We have running water that is filtered and we also have a workout gym next door that opens at 5:30 and blasts music haha - awesome.  Its crazy but me and Saturnino are still half companions because we live in the same house, but are in different areas.  In our shower - you can't touch the walls or you will get shocked pretty good. Learned from experience. 

I know why I was called to this mission.  You can watch Disney movies on p-day and listen to Disney music whenever.  'Nuff said there.

Love your missionary,

Elder Chase THurgood

October 29, 2013: The Mission Home

Your son arrived last Tuesday and we are sending you a photo of his arrival in the mission. He is doing very well and is very enthusiastic. It gives us great joy to get to know him and to feel of his strong spirit.

We thank you for having prepared him so well. He will need this preparation in order to meet the challenges of his mission. We are sure that he will do a great and marvelous work among the loving people of the region of the Santos Mission.

Sister Cabral
Missão Santos - Sempre Fiéis

October 25, 2013: Last P-day in the CTM

We haven't done much today because my P-day got changed up because the President of the 70 is coming today for a devotional.   We also aren't able to go to  the temple because of this. Guess who got signed up to sing for it? Yep, me, so I'm a little nervous about that. I'm singing with 4 others elders, but we are all from different countries so that should be interesting.  

I also am pretty nervous about the field.  I just have felt really inadequate lately to actually be going out of the CTM now.  It's crazy how fast the time has gone by.  As a missionary you  read  a lot of scriptures and the one I have found that I just really like right now is Alma 29:9. Super good scripture.  Also I have been memorizing scriptures like crazy: James 1:5, the First Vision, Amos 3:7, John 14:15 and 2 Nephi 31:20.  I was able to give the first vision and James 1:5 in a lesson. I could feel the spirit ten times stronger than just reading it.  I gave it to the sisters in our district as we were practicing  teaching and the spirit was so strong. They were both crying. It was a really awesome experience.  

The bad news about my district is that we aren't all going to the same mission.  Elder Davis is going to Maceio which is way up north. It stinks because we pretty much are the same person; just one's from the south and the other is a Coloradoan. 

One of my new goals is to pray once every hour to make sure I'm always focused on what I'm supposed to do. 

Love your missionary,

Elder Chase Thurgood

October 18, 2013: 1 MONTH!

This past week has been good for me. I'm getting better and more confident in the language, but once I get in the field I'm sure I'll be re-humbled and have to start all over again.

I don't know if I like the weather here.  It's always really gloomy here - never sunny and the fact that were almost always in the CTM 6 days a weeks doesn't help, but I'm getting better and better each day.

I'm still gaining tons of weight, but I'm trying to not eat as much anymore because its getting a little out of hand now haha.  Life is good, but I do the same thing every day. It's crazy to think that its been a month on the mission.  23 more to go.

Answers to Mom's Questions:

1. Pictures

I can't take pictures outside of the CTM. Even if I could we can't send anything from these computers because of the time constraints.  The only pictures I've taken are of my district and the view from the top floor of the CTM.

2. Sheets

I brought sheets

3. Things for birthday

I would like some kind of calendar and also a scripture case for my English quad.  Carrying them around in my bag is beating them up, but honestly if you send anything at all to me it would be treated like gold.  Anything from Mr. Cheney's is fine, but the cookies are the best.

4. Safety
Yes, I heard of people getting mugged.  We had to register with the police this week and we saw a guy getting chased  down by another man with a machete. It's pretty crazy.

5. Where do you play basketball
Our gym has a roof over a outdoor facility that I think there are pictures online of it.

6. New attribute for this week is humilidade or humility.  Watch the Mormon Messages, "The Will of God" with D. Todd Christofferson.  It's super good; we watch it every day.

October 11, 2013: Teaching on the Streets of Sao Paulo

Streets of Sao Paulo (Picture from the internet)

This week was really cool. We had the opportunity to go proselyting on the busiest street in Sao Paulo for about 30 minutes.  It was so short because the bus ride took way too long.  We handed out 4 Book of Mormons a piece. It was an awesome experience.  I'm still not good at talking with people I don't know or feel awkward, but I have been praying to get better every day.

I don't know if you remember me telling you about the meat buffet but I think I ate too much food and then drank something that pretty much ruined me for 5 days.  I had the stomach flu slash food poisoning the whole time.  It was rough but I received a blessing and was much better.

Conference this past week was sweet.  It was super cool for me as a missionary to see everything in a different perspective.  My favorite talks were Elder Holland on depression and disabilities.  President Monson's quote about, Teach, Inspire, Motivate. Elder Eyring's story of the grandma asking the lord why her grandson was in jail; that it was so hard for her. Then she heard a voice say, I gave him to you because  I knew you could and would love him no matter his choices.

I also liked Russell M Nelson's talk at the end of conference where he said a phrase that I really liked: 

Decisions Determine Destiny. Triple D. I challenged the district this past week to find out what their purpose is on the mission and this solidified mine.  How bad do you want to be successful is based on the the Decisions that determine your Destiny.

I have 40 minutes to write and generally 11 emails to reply to.  If you send a care package I could care less about what's in there just that it's from you guys is enough for me

 I'm still eating well and gaining weight like crazy. I think at one point I weighed 184which is a little big haha.

Chase with Elder Davis

Me and one of the elders, Elder Davis own the court here.  If we are on the same team its not even fair.  I think I have more chemistry with him after like 4 times playing ball than anyone I ever had before.

He threw an alley oop last night and I slammed it. it was so sick.  then we had about 20 Brazilians come over and watch us play and it was cool.

 The mission is fun but hard.  The days go by so fast here it's crazy but I am getting a lot better at speaking Portuguese.  My companion and I committed our investigator to baptism and they are scheduled to be baptized on the 16th.

 I love you a lot and I think about you all every night for what I'm working for.

Love your missionary,

Elder Thurgood

October 4, 2013: Trip to the Sao Paulo Temple

When we saw that we got letters in the mail we literally started trippin everywhere we were so excited. Some cool scriptures I found this week are in D&C 86:5.  It talks about the angels waiting to come down to earth.  We are those angels that were waiting to come down to serve the Lord.  I'm grateful that I have that ability now.  Another scripture that provided me some comfort was in 3 Nephi 12:16 and Ether 12:4.  They work really well together.  I love you a lot and miss you so much.

P-day is always a joy to hear about how everyone is doing.  Today and last week we went to the temple. The temple here is super beautiful! The endownment room is probably two to three times as big and the inside is all deep mahogany colored.  It's very cool to be inside.

This week we watched a devotional with Elder Holland. He is definitely one of the most straight forward speakers, but I learned so much from him and the counsel he gave to missionaries.

This week with my companion has gone better. I think it's because I've really looked for good things to say about him and how to love him more even though we really are completely opposite.  I prayed a lot this past week about goals I can not only set for myself, but also for the district. After really thinking about it,

I decided that each week we would select a christlike attribute to study and try to better develop.  It has been a great blessing already to try and develop Christ like attributes.  This week we did charity and love which helped me even more with my companion struggles.  I think it would be a really good thing for the family as well to pick an attribute to work on. Its been a blessing already in my life.

This past Sunday in priesthood, we were practicing how to baptize and my companion was baptizing me and guess who ended up on the floor haha.  I just laughed it off so he wasn't embarrassed haha.  This week i also had the opportunity to give a blessing to one of the sisters and what a powerful experience that was.  I had no idea what I was saying but when I looked up everyone in the district was crying and the spirit was so strong.  It really bonded us together.  We are really close to the other elder companionship in our district.  The only time we aren't with them is while we're sleeping. If you see one of us, the other three are trailing behind somewhere.

I love you, Dad you have been such a great inspiration to me and to your family.  I look forward to reading your letters each week.

Love your missionary,

Elder  Chase Thurgood