Letter #12- Hello, Again. Hello. Just called to say... Hello.

dear family!

It´s been another wonderful week here in Brazil! Here are some updates: USA is out of the World Cup. I am very sad because I would have loved to win the cup. When we went to church on Sunday, we walked into priesthood, they literally stopped the meeting and started clapping and laughing and saying Guanna!!! (They are who beat us). They live for soccer here. LIVE for it. A few days ago, Brazil played Chile (here we say Shil-lee) and the stores were almost ALL closed! Literally everything, except for a few stores, and they had the game playing. It was hard to teach lessons that day because NO one wanted to leave their tv. But when the game was over, they all came out and partied in the streets and it was pretty funny. 

 

The work is going so great here! The Lord is blessing the people in Timbu. We have quite a few investigators. First, this week, Elder Savage taught me how to (in Portuguese) invite someone to be baptized. So after I learned how he told me I was going to invite Jezley (I don´t know how to spell it, so that´s how you say it and how it would be spelled in English) He is a great guy, he had been having many problems with drinking and drugs and he did kill a guy like a year ago. He served time in prison, but he really is a great guy. He loves us so much and he loves it when we come over. 

 

The best was last Wednesday, we stopped by his house at like 8 and he had a huge grin on his face. We asked him how he had been and he proudly declared, "I have been sober for a week!" Wow! That was cool. We talked with him, shared a message and left. We went back Monday night. 2 weeks of being clean! Then Elder Savage had me commit him to baptism. He was so nervous. He didn´t think he was ready. We talked with him and said we would help him. We set his baptismal date for July 31. That´s close to dad´s birthday! He is so excited and he will be great! I love him.

 

Next, we have these two ladies. a mother who is in her 50s and her daughter who is in her late 20s. They LOVE us. We have taught them some lessons. They always give us food and the first time we went to their house, they kissd us on the cheek! (That´s what all Brazilians do, it´s their custom here) but we had to explain to them that we can´t do it. We all had a good laugh. But yesterday, we were meeting with them. We taught them the 10th commandment and then the daughter said she had a question, but not about the commandment. We asked about what. and she said... I´ve been reading O Livro De Mórmon, and I don´t understand about the tree of life. We were so happy! She had been reading! We explained to her about it and then we told her to keep reading. She said she had prayed about it! And that she had a dream the church was true! and she knew God had answered her prayers! and then she said she wanted to go to church. They are coming this sunday! It is great!

 

Next we are also teaching a family. The dad´s name is Caudio! (Claw-gee-oh) They are great! They are friends of the bishop. (here he is the Bispo) They love us so mucha and they are really getting involved, they haven´t been to church yet, but they will this weekend and they are loving the lessons. The first night was a family home evening with their family and the bishop´s family and we watched Junto Parasempre (together forever) and then the next time we taught them the message of the restoration. They committed to baptism. then the next time we taught about the plan of salvation. I love teaching that lesson because I love the look that the family gives each other when we tell them that families are ordained of God and we can be together forever in heaven with our families, Heavenly father, and Christ, as families forever. I wouldn´t trade it for the world.

 

This has been a great week! I am all out of time! I love you all and pray for you constantly. I am hitting my 3 month mark! See you all in almost 21 months!

Com amor,

Elder Askins

Letter #11- I´m Still Learning How To Bend.

Hello my family! I hope everything is going just fantastic! I don´t know if when you do the blog thingy, if you add my email titles, but they are there for a special reason. They have to do with my week and I think about during the week what will be a good title for the next week. They usually come on Friday. 

 

This last Friday, as with every morning, the alarm went off at 6:30. I hit my knees and prayed. I thank the Lord for letting me still be alive, I thank Him for tons of things. I let Him know that everything I plan on doing that day, I´m doing it in His name. Then of course I talk to Him about my family, a few friends that I´ve been thinking of lately, and some members of the Timbu ward, and our investigators. After, I wrapped myself up in my blanket (because it is COLD) and I sat on the couch and probably look hilarious. Elder Savage got out of the shower and smiled at me and, without a grin on my face I said loudly and emotionless "It´s COLD!" Then we start laughing. It happens every day. And then I get in the shower and I sing songs. 

 

Last Friday, I´m Still Learning How to Bend by Gary Allen popped in my head and I thought this is my song. I grew up my whole life learning things. Getting set in my ways. Some good things and some things like the natural man. Then I get here on my mission and I am this boy set in my ways. And the Lord says No no no, you may be this good boy right now, let me teach you how to be a man of God. and every day I am still learning how to be the way the Lord has intended me to be. 

 

The mission is the greatest! Yesterday we were walking to a section of our area and we were with a member who is a good friend. His name is Tuté (Too-Tay). He was talking to me and he says "you don´t speak enough Elder Askins," And goes on to try and talk with me. We talk, I do alright, I was proud of myself, but he looked disappointed. And Elder Savage says, "Tuté, he´s doing great for his first area" And he says "First area! I thought this was your second or third area!" That made me feel good that I don´t scream newbie.

 

Last week on like Friday or Tuesday even, Brazil played (soccer).We knew it would be hard to teach, but we were not having any excuses. We had made a goal to have 12 baptismal dates set up by the end of the week. so we worked our BUTTS off! We worked so so so hard. That day we were walking. We got a can of guarana and drank some, it was hot out. Then Elder Savage says, "Where do you feel like we should go?" Where do I feel?  I looked out across the area we were in. I felt like we should go to a certain place. I said, "That way, Pointing down the hill." He said, "me too." We walked a way and listened for people not watching the game. We went to this shadey-looking house and clapped. This old lady, maybe Nanie´s age came out. She said enter enter. We talked a little. We asked how she had been. She said really bad. She told us about how a lot of her family had died. She cried. We taught her about the plan of salvation and she said she wanted to be baptized. As we were leaving she said God be thanked for you coming to my home.

I love you all. This work is true! I know it!

"Don´t Stop Believing!" 

Love you with all my heart,

-Elder Askins 

Elder Askins' First Baptism

Elder Askins, Isabella, Elder Savage

Letter #11: I Hear Jerusalem Bells Ringing, Roman Cavalry Choirs Are Singing. Be My Mirror, my Sword, And Sheild, My Missionaries in a Foreign Field

This has been an amazing week! I hope you all got my picture! There is so much to say and it always seems like there is not enough time. 

 

I´ll start with last Friday. I have found that as I read and reread the Book of Mormon in Portuguese, if i do it during personal study in the morning, I can understand better that day. So I have really tried to work hard.  I study stories I love and scriptures I know. Like Nephi, and Enos. I LOVE the story of Enos. And Alma and Captian Moroni. Great stuff. So last Friday I started reading. That day, we were having the Zone Leaders come to our area to interview Isabella for her baptism on Saturday. But we found out that we would have to go on divisions because they had 2 interviews at the same time at different places. So we met them in Boa Vista and I went with Elder Young to an interview in another area, while Elder Lima went with Elder Savage back to our area in timbu. Elder Young (No relation to Sam Young, I asked), was only speaking Portuguese with me. He told me that I was conjugating really well for how long I've been out and that I was understanding really well too. He told me he knew I would continue to pick up the language. 

 

SO we were STARVING! That happens a lot to me now. And he led the way to this resort. We had a wonderful buffet at this resort. We talked about our families and life before the mission and what we had planned to do after the mission. It was great! Afterward, we rode the famous red buses of Curitiba (Google them! They're crazy!) They look like giant caterpillers. We rode for like an hour. Then got off and met up with other elders. We walked what seemed like forever and then I went with Elder Barbosa (A Brazilian missionary) while Elder Young went with Elder Brown to the other interview. While I was with Elder Barbosa, we taught a first lesson and talked A LOT of Portuguese. It gave me comfort that I can actually communicate with Brazilians better than I thought. Then Elder Barbosa and I rode the buses back to Boa Vista where I met up with Elder Savage. 

 

We jumped on the buses to run back to Timbu because we had an activity with the ward and we were teaching a small lesson. We made it on time. Rule number one with Brazilians: If something starts at 7 it won´t really start until 8. It´s crazy. But we made it. We helped set up and I was feeling great! I was talking with investigators (there was at least 20 there) and with the ward members. After the lesson we taught, we served dinner to the ward and they danced and played music. We started talking with the ward members and investigators. They were so excited because this was the first time I was being really open with them becuase I could talk and understand. I felt the power of the Lord help me and bless me.  We chatted until we had to go home. 

 

Saturday was Isabella´s baptism. Elder Savage told me that she wanted ME to baptize her. So I spent the day with Elder Savage setting up the church, teaching a few lessons, and memorizing how the baptismal words go in Portuguese. But the time came, we were both in white, I helped her into the font. She looked nervous. I whispered, "Isabella, Are you nervous?" She nodded. I got a big grin on my face and said "Me too." Hahahaha. She smiled and giggled. I told her not to worry. I said it word perfect and the baptism as great! 

 

I love baptisms. I love the song that talks about looking for rainbows after it rains. "And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again. I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can. and live with God again." How true that is! After the baptism, Elder Savage wasn´t feeling well so we went home and made some herbal tea and went to bed. 

 

Sunday was a great day. We did some contacts and went to lunch and then church. We had one investigator there.  His name is Jeslee (or spelled some other way) The thing is, he´s been taught all the lessons, but has trouble with the word of wisdom. He is a great guy though. Not to scare you, but he just got out of prison.  He killed someone. But he LOVES us so much. And he is nothing to be scared of.

 

Monday, we found out that the elders who lived in our condo before us in November didn´t pay a power bill, so we had our power shut off all day Monday and half of Tuesday. Have you ever taken a freezing cold shower that brings you to tears... when it is freezing outside already. Heaters... something I took for granted. We are truly blessed in the good old USA. 

 

Speaking of... Did you hear that USA tied with England in the first round of the world cup. We were leaving an area yesterday when Brazil won their first game again North Korea. I was a little scared. It was like a war zone! Everyone was driving arund honking and shouting and cheering. And they were lighting off fireworks. It was crazy. 

 

We met this lady yesterday, about Nanie´s age. A lot of her family has died. And we taught her about the plan of salvation. She started crying. She has a baptismal date for |July 3rd. It´s been fun. We are teching a family of 4. They are friends of the Bispo (Bishop). So I think it will go great! There is nothing but goodness in the future of Timbu. I can tell. I am so blessed. 

 

Today, we had to go to Downtown Curitiba, where the Mission office is, for police stuff with my visa. It´s all protocal. But I got to see people from my old district. It was funny because we were so joyfuyl in seeing each other again. I felt like Alma when we read about the sons of Mosiah in the mission. They were so happy. We were talking and I guess most of their companions don´t let them teach and talk. They say do you teach Elder Askins? My companion leans over and says, He taught a lesson alone last night and baptized someone on Saturday! He was so proud. 

 

Last night we visited Isabella. And as we are sitting there, Elder Savage says, Isabella, I think Elder Askins has something that would really be good for you to hear, he will give the message tonight. He likes to keep me on my toes. I shared Nephi 3:7. I told her the story. Great story. And then I said in probably terrible, broken Portuguese, "Sometimes the Lord asks us to do hard things, but He will always provide a way to make it through. Isabella, as you know, I don´t know Portuguese, it´s very hard. But the Lord called me here to serve you and your family. He called me here to serve the people here. And I have a strong testimony that He will help me learn this language because he has commanded me to serve here, and I know He wouldn´t command me to do soemthing unless he was going to help me do it." As we left Elder Savage said, "Elder Askins, that was a great message. Maybe you should start giving the lunch message too." Uh oh. hahaha so who knows. 

 

Well, my time is up, pday is just about over. But my love and my prayers go out to all of you. I love you all so much and I know that this church is true. The Book of Mormon is true. This work is true. God lives and Christ lives. He is our Savior! I love you all!

-Elder Nathan Askins!

Some Pictures from Brazil- then read further for his weekly letter!

Elder Askins sent us some pictures this week!  Hope you enjoy!  What a fun place to be!

President and Sister Clark

His scripture case. (I couldn't figure out how to rotate it!)

Letter #10: He Lives in You, He Lives in Me

I am trying to attach my photos. Elder Savage let me borrow his cord. Let´s pray it works! 

 

Well family! It has been a wonderful first week here! So much has happened. Let´s see. Last Thursday, we went to a referral from the Ward Mission Leader. His name is Pimental. He is awesome! So he told us about this inactive family. So we stopped by. We met the lady, Nesau I think is how you spell it. She was nice. We met her daughter, Isabella. She is 9 years old. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and Isabella is getting baptized this Saturday! How awesome is that! 

 

The language is hard. I still can barely understand anything. But every day it´s getting better and better. An experience I had was pretty amazing. It happened last Saturday: I was very discouraged in the morning about the language and I prayed and prayed and prayed, and that day I could understand better. I could speak better. Everything seemed better and brighter. Something felt different. I was praying that afternoon about the whys. Why is it hard? Why was I called here? Why is learning this language so hard and will I ever learn it? I remembered an old talk by Elder Holland. He said missionary work is so hard because the price that was paid was not a cheap experience. How amazing! But the Lord went further. That night, we were helping some members in an English Learning Class and the closing song (in English) was Nephi´s courage. It was an answer to my prayers. "Nephi was courageous, this was his reply, I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands. I know the Lord provides a way, He wants me to obey." I know that I was called here for a reason and not somewhere else. It´s like Nephi says, I can do all things if the Lord had commanded me. 

 

I will never forget last Friday. Hahaha It rained ALL day. And here, when it rains.. it POURS. All I had was that umbrella Allie gave me. We went and met with the young men´s president. His name is Tute (Too-tay) He is so awesome. and he speaks English! He´s the one who teaches the English class. He took us out and bought us drinks and a snack and he paid for our bus ride. All three of us rode to a part of our area that is so far. It is more in the jungle. We were going to meet some investigators, but they couldn´t meet with us. So we visited some recent converts. They lived in a little shack. They had buckets on the floor to catch the rain. When we got there, we ended up having to stay for a while because the storm got really really bad. So we stayed there and chatted with the family. They were watching Willy Wonka in Portuguese. How funny?! They brought us bread and guarana. After it got better we walked around and Tute went and bought me an umbrella. He said the other one was too small. How sweet! 

 

Then went to another house and they invited us in. We taught them about the restoration and they accepted to be baptized! They are getting baptized next week!

 

We also received a call about this guy who worked on the Curitiba temple when it was built. He started asking questions. Someone called our Mission president about it and he told his secretaties and they called us. we visited with his wife Saturday night. We found out that they had had some troubles, but are working them out. Last night we taught them about the restoration. Before and after, I kind of (attempted to talk) to the kids. They really liked it. I think they will be baptized. Oh how I love it here. Thank you for the prayers and the love. I love you all! Don´t stop believing!!!

MAIL!!

We've received letters from some of our favorite missionaries in the last week.  We heard from Chad Smith in California and Landon Brough in Australia!  Sounds like they are doing wonderful!  We love our missionaries!

Letter # 9: Don´t Stop Believing,

Dear family, it was wonderful to talk to some of you yesterday. I really enjoyed it. Sorry I got a little choked up at the end but it was so good to hear from you and I was so happy. 

 

It is so cold here! I mean imagine the coldest Arizona day, then imagine that a little colder. But all the time. No heaters except in the cars. After I got off the phone with you I sat and chatted with my missionary friend and just waited. We boarded our plane and right before we boarded, a pilot took a picture of us outside the plane. Only in Brazil right? It was cool because in Campinas (The airport we were in) we boarded the planes like the Beatles did in the 60's. It was cool. I felt like a Beatle! 

 

I was pretty nervous to go to Curitiba and to meet my mission President. I mean this is the place you dream about your whole life! And then you get your call and you research it and you dream about the President in your call packet and his wife. You dream about the temple, the people. It is nerve racking in all honesty. 

 

We got off the plane retrieved our luggage and started walking to the lobby. I was nervous! Would he be there? What was going to happen? What were we going to do today? But as we walked out the door into the lobby, I saw Elder Jackson turn his head and get the biggest smile. And as I walked out and turned the corner, I saw President and his 2 assistants standing there. He came up to me and shook my hand and then gave me a huge hug and said "Welcome to the best mission in the entire world!" 

 

For the first time in 2 months it felt like I was with family again. It was awesome! We walked outside and he snapped a picture of us and then one with us. Then we went in a van. We chatted with one of the assistants and they took us to the Curitiba temple. They snapped another picture of us and we loaded back into the van. Then we went to the President´s house. They live in an apartment building. I think it´s owned by the church. We went to his floor and on his front door was a big sign that said welcome to the best mission in the world new missionaries. We walked in and sat on the couches. It kind of smelt like the Wilcock's house. I liked it. From there, the missionary in charge of finances started talking to us about our new card. Then we had an orientation, a small one.  All this was going on while President Araujo was having interviews with us. He poked his head out the door, got a huge grin and pointed at me "Elder Askins" he smiled, "English or Portuguese?" 

 

He laughed while I walked in his office. Of course it was in English. We talked about things. About my wonderful family and about what things I did before my mission and why I was serving a mission. He is such a great man. After the interviews were finished, we took pictures with President and Sister Araujo. Then we washed up and had a wonderful lunch. President Araujo said to eat up because tomorrow was P-day and we probably wouldn´t eat very good. Hahaha he loves to joke. 

 

He told us that if we wanted to be the best missionaries we needed to be 100% obedient and to work as hard as we can. He told us that this past month, they made a goal to have 200 hundred baptisms and the had 201 baptisms! How cool is that?! Elder Nelson was right when he said "It´s the Lord´s time for Brazil." 

 

After lunch we went to the chapel and as we waited for the meeting to start, I heard President Araujo jamming out on the piano to Joseph Smith´s First Prayer. That´s when it clicked, the way he acted, the way he dressed, the way he played the piano. He reminded me of  grown-up version of Chad! It was so cool. We had an orientation meeting and I met my trainer, Elder Savage. He´s been out one year and six months. He is a great missionary. 

 

We are in a suburb called Cheebow (That´s not how you spell it, but that´s the way it sounds) He says in 3 weeks we will have a baptism for sure. After the orientation, Elder Savage, his old companion Elder Shaw, and I waited outside the chapel for like an hour for the ward mission leader to pick us up. He took us to the market, where Elder Shaw got meat and bread and Elder Savage took my bags to the house. From there we went to the ward mission leader´s home and met with his family, 2 kids that Elder Savage and Elder Shaw just baptized on Sunday and their mom who isn´t a member. They had a small lesson, which I didn´t really understand. Then the family wanted to take pictures with Elder Shaw. I offered to take them, but they refused, they told me I had to be in the pictures too. Which was really cool. Very loving people. 

 

After that we walked home. Our condo is small. Maybe a little bigger than our living room total. It´s freezing because Curitiba gets COLD during the winter and no one has heaters in their home. I changed into my sweat pants, and sweat shirt and went to bed. I was so exhausted. 

 

This morning we woke up, met the Bishop and his second counselor and Elder Shaw left. Elder Savage said to take this P-day to rest because we are going to be working very hard the rest of the week. I can´t wait. 

 

I love you all so much. I hope everything is going well. I know that God hears our prayers and answers them. He loves us so much. More than we can imagine and He wants to bless us. I know that this is His work and that we are bringing His children to Christ. Which is a comforting thought. I love you all and my thoughts and prayers go out to you all. Remember: Through Christ we can do ALL things. I love you and God bless. Don´t stop believing! Because I can´t do it on my own!

Con Amor!!
Elder Nathan Palmer Askins!

Letter # 8: Once There Was A Way.... To Get Back Homeward...

Dearest family! I love you all so much.

To save on time, I´m going to write my whole email here and not divide it. You can put it on the blog. That was just an FYI. I want to say thanks to Lauren, Alex, and Heidi, Nanie (2 letters!) Erica, Audrey and Katie! A wonderful week! Thank you all for the letters. The encouragement is great!

I had a few crazy wonderful experiences! Last p-day, after I emailed, (If you remember we got on extra early, well, more early than usual) it was weird because we weren´t planning on emailing, but for some reason, we did. Well afterward, we went shopping and I had to stop by the bank. We were at the ATM and I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I looked over and the security guard was standing right next to us. He asked "What church do you go to?" We said, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are representatives of Jesus Christ." He asked, "Don´t you have your own Bible?" We said, "No, we believe in the bible. We also believe in The Book of Mormon." He said, "I want one, can you go get me one? WE SPRINTED DOWN THE STREET. We ran into the guy that makes scripture cases and  he asked us why we were in a hurry. we said, someone wants a Book of Mormon. He pulls one out and says GO GO GO! SO we walked back to the bank and gave it to him. He asked us to write our feelings down about the Book of Mormon for him, So we did. What a tender mercy of the Lord. It was a very cool experience.

This Friday we went proselyting in downtown São Paulo. It was a wonderful experience. We passed out 7 Livro De Mórmons; (Leev-row Gee More-mons) It was awesome. We even gave one to a guy smoking weed. (In all fairness, we thought it was just a cigarette until we walked up) And we ran into a group of ladies on break at work (They reminded me of mom and her friends at work) We asked them if they had heard of our church. One said yes, the four others said no. The lady who said yes had a Book of Mormon and the others didn´t. We gave them each a book and told them about it. We realized that we were one short. The lady who didn´t receive one asked, Where is mine!? I want one. WE RAN TO ELDER BRAZELL AND ELDER OLSON (Other missionaries in our district whom I love. They are like my best friends) They came with us and we gave them the last Book of Mormon. One of the ladies (Not knowing the importance of the book) set it on top of the trash can. As we were leaving, I turned around and bore my testimony to her of the importance of the book. I told her I have grown closer to Christ through the Book of Mormon and that my family and I have become so much more happier because of it. She looked at me in the eyes and I could tell my testimony touched her. She picked it up off the trash can and started reading it. It has been a wonderful week.

Don´t worry about me here in Brazil. I am more than fine. I love you all. The Book of Mormon is true. I know it! And this work is true. I don´t know if I´ll be able to email next week due to traveling to Curitiba, but please pray more me and my district. We are going to our Missions this week. I love you all. Don´t You DARE Stop Believing.