We Have PICTURES!!

Elder Askins didn't include names this go round. 3rd and 6th pictures are with Elder Savage and the picture just above is with Elder Awerkamp.  The others are with people he is teaching.  Looks like hes putting the Brough's scarf to good use!

Letter #15- He was a skater boy, she said see you later boy; he wasn´t good enough for her

Hello from Brazil!

This has been a fantastic week! I do not remember when I have ever been this happy! I am in my new area. Nome de la Cap da Imbuia (kapow da em-boo-yah) and it is just great! It has been freezing here! The coldest for me it has ever been! But it made for an interesting change up. and the rain. oh gosh!!! It has rained every day this week, well, except today. It is bright and sunny and actually getting kind of hot. But i cannot complain. 

So the area I am in is a suburb of Curitiba. It is just great! The ward is awesome and Elder Awerkamp is awesome. The people are awesome. It's all awesome! Everything is going great! The work is hard. Not as many people are as receptive as in Timbu. But no worries. I have constantly thought this. "If life gets hard, work harder." 

While I've been on my mission I've remembered many quotes I have heard. One that I love is by Coach Hornbeck from high school. "Just because you are moving, doesn't mean you are going somewhere." I have tried to apply this. Make our time affective! So this week, Elder Awerkamp had 2 different meetings in Portao with the President! Because he's the District Leader. So I went with some other elders in our district. I just have to tell you the story.

So we are in the other area with the other elders and we went to lunch yesterday. The three of us walked in. We shook everyones hands and the last person is this mentally challenged Brazilian. He shook my hand and glared at me. He came and sat down and just glared at me. He screamed (this is all in Portuguese, remember) "What's your name?" "Elder Askins" "Are you an American?" "Yes I am" "I don't like you!" (the other elders are just laughing hysterically) He got up and walked around screaming "Who took my meds? Who took my meds?" He came to me and screamed "You took my meds!" And raises his hand to hit me and another elder says "No he doesn't have it" And so he sat down. I asked to go to the bathroom and he says "Do you have to poop?" And just laughs. So I went to the bathroom, but I was so nervous I can't pee and when I came back I sat down and he started screaming again. But I looked over and I saw a camera with the light on. When he saw me notice it he shouted "YOU JUST GOT PUNKED!" in English!!! HAhahahahaha and then he started saying how he can speak English, how he doesn't have any problems or anything and how he served a mission. He gave me a big hug and we laughed how funny!

But on a more spiritual note. I had quite an experience. I was praying a few nights ago and I was asking Heavenly Father why I was transferred, why I left my area, my trainer, the whole shebang. Not complaining, but looking for understanding. I had a dream that night that I was at a baptism, and my mission pres was there. I asked him why he transfered me and he looked me deep in the eyes and said "Elder, we both know it wasn't me who transfered you, and the Lord did it because there is something that YOU can do there. Maybe no one else can. In the furnace of our afflictions, the Lord makes us strong.

I have noticed that since I have left my other area and been with a new companion, I am speaking more and better. I know the Lord transfered me because I can learn and grow more here and I can help the people. My last night I met with a family that I just love. I gave the dad a hug goodbye and he said "Askins, there are people there waiting for you." I find it interesting. In Portuguese, the word for wait and hope are the same. So I will find who is waiting.

Letter #14- I´ve Got A Feelin´,That Tonight´s Gonna Be A Good Night

Dear family.

It has been an eventful week. Today is the first day of a new transfer. For those of you who don´t know how the mission works, it´s broken up into transfers. Which is every 6 weeks. And every six weeks you or your companion have a chance of leaving the area you are in and you go to a new area and get a new companion or you stay in your area and get a new companion or you both stay. So Elder Savage was preparing me because he had a feeling that he was going to be leaving. In this mission (Brazil, Curitiba) if you are American, you usually stay with your trainer (First companion) for 2 transfers and then your trainer leaves and you stay in the area and get a new companion. Elder Savage and I had one transfer together, so it was rare that he would get transferred, but he had a chance to leave and become the Zone Leader. So he was preparing me for a maybe. 

 

So last Saturday we went on divisions. I went with the Brazilian in our district. His name was Elder Cordeiro. We stayed in my area and I loved it. I took him around all day to our investigators houses and I was the one leading the way, planning the day, and teaching the lessons. I felt like I could handle getting a new companion.

Well, Monday was the day we found out what was going on. That day a huge storm hit Timbu. We had to hide at Pimental´s house for about a half hour, it was so bad. After we finished our day we returned home and had no power. Luckily I had some candles I had bought. We finally got power around ten and the call for transfers came around 10:30. We were prepped. I was in my sweatshirt and sweat pants drinking some chá (Brazilian tea) and we were sitting on the couch. Elder Savage put it on speaker phone. Elder Lima (one of our Zone Leaders) said transfers were in- he said "Elder Savage, Você vai ficar (You are going to stay)" I was so happy! I was about to start dancing! "Elder Askins, Você vai sair (You are going to leave)" I threw my head against the wall and literally almost started crying. I didn´t want to leave! I have friends here! I knew the area, we had baptisms. I only had six weeks on my entire mission! But I knew that this was part of the Lord´s plan for me here. 

 

So that next day we went around to all the houses of our friends. They all thought Elder Savage would leave. No one thought I would. So we told them, "Elder Savage is staying, I´m leaving." We told our 2 important investigators, Celí and Rosilene. They started crying! We went and told Isabella. We told Pimental and his family. We told our other good friends, Marcos Duarte and his family. They bought me a Brazil Nation jersey and a kit with a light and a pen and a notebook. We told our friend Analia, a recent convert. She started crying.  She loved me. She called me "Meu pequeno-grande homen" (My little big man) She gave me some Avon soap. We told Tuté. We had a nice pizza with him. 

 

This morning I was packed and we went, again, to Portão. We went to the chapel for transfers. I am now in this new area, I forget the name of it. hahahaha. But it is actually in Curitiba. and my new companion, his name is Elder Awerkamp and he is Parker Awerkamp´s second cousin.

 

So that is my week. Pretty eventful. Pretty happy, pretty sad. I love you all and I hope you are doing amazing. "Don´t stop believing!"

love,

elder askins

Letter #13- "There Ain´t No Rest For The Wicked. Money Don´t Grow On Trees

"I Got Bills To Pay, I Got Mouths to Feed, There Ain´t Nothin´In this World For Free. Oh I Can´t Slow Down, I Can´t Go Back, Oh You Know, I Wish I Could. Well, There Ain´t No Rest For The Wicked...Until We Close Our Eyes For Good."

 

Well this week has been great! I have a lot to say and so little time. Today we played soccer with the boys in our ward. They love us so much and it was so good. It was 5 on 5. Elder Savage and I were on the same team. I was goalie for most of it (And not too bad if i do say so myself). Elder Savage called me Howard (The USA team´s goalie) and I called him Donavan (The best player on the USA team) but we lost 20-18. It was a great game! hahaha.

 

Last week I had my final meeting in Portão on Friday. I was super excited, because it was the final one and because our new mission president came in on Thursday and I thought I might be able to meet him. You know how I get. He is pretty much famous as far as the mission is concerned. He´s like the Paul McCartney to all other musicians. Well the assistants said he was coming and about half way through he showed up. I got pretty nervous (You know how I get) and then we were practicing teaching the first lesson in Portuguese. He would walk around and listen but Elder Savage has been making me practice with him a lot (teaching it completely the whole way by myself) so it wasn´t too hard. Then finally at the end, our new president, President Cordon, and the assistants were standing right by me and watched me extend a baptism invite and I did pretty dang good! And they all said I did good and I was happy it was great! Then President Cordon got up in front of everyone and gave some concluding remarks. He served his mission in Argentina. So he speaks Spanish. But he said "I´m learning Portuguese too." He spoke to us in Portuguese but it sounded very much like Spanish. It sounds really different but he spoke pretty well. He said "Last Sunday, I was at a sacrament meeting with all the new mission presidents, 10 of the 12 Apostles, and the prophet." (Can you imagine that!!!!) And he said the Prophet stood up and said if you are learning a new language, the Lord will help you. Whoa! How powerful!

 

A few nights ago (this is more scarier) we were walking home. Around 9:30. We were running late. It was very foggy out like the old wolfman movie. Where I live, all the stores close at 8:30 because after that... bad things happen to people who aren´t missionaries. We were walking to our house. Our jackets were covering our name tags and our white shirts and ties and we walked and walked and walked. And we saw one person emerge from the fog at the end of the street. As she got closer (And you don´t talk to people on the streets at night) when she got closer about parallel to us she look at us, turned her head and said "Boa Noite Missionaries." Instantly I had this feeling that hit my heart and spread throughout my whole body it said, "Leave now. Don´t stop, don´t talk." We booked it home. I don´t know what that lady was doing or what it was, but she said missionaries in English which is a hard word for them to say. And that feeling... it was weird and really cool at the same time. Like someone was watching out for us. Just a cool story. Nothing really scary.

 

Yesterday, we visited Jezley. He smoked a little less than a week ago and was sad about it. We talked to him and comforted him. They Elder Savage had me teach the entire first lesson. It was cool because I could actually do it.

 

Now for my last story. Monday night, we had Noite Familiar over at this man named Marcos´ house. They love us. Elder Savage helped activate them last transfer. Their kids love us. They have 2 sons, one 15 and one like 13. We watched a video of two Jewish men walking and one was telling the other of Jesus. Along the way, they would stop and help people that needed help. The man who was talking about Jesus dropped his walking stick. A man picked it up and asked them for some food. they went back to the man´s house and were eating bread. The stranger that these two men on the street met broke the bread with them and handed it to them. They looked at his hands and noticed they had scars on them. Each hand had a scar on the palm and each wrist had a scar. They knew it was Christ. After the movie, Marcos asked me if I had any thoughts I wanted to share and I told them "It´s not easy to serve a mission. I can´t speak very well. I have spent a lot of money to be here. I have left my family and my friends to be here. I miss my family so much. Learning Portuguese is hard. I would not be here, if i didn´t know this was true." I bore them my simple testimony of the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of it. I bore my simple testimony about the prophet Joseph Smith. 

 

I love you all so much.

"Don´t Stop Believing!"

Com Amor,

Elder Askins