Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Well I couldn´t be happier right now,
Transfers were yesterday. Elder Fa and I were just having such a rough time together. I love him and he is a really funny guy, but he just was always always provoking me and he never accepted any of the counsel I would give him, be it extremely small or big. He just did not accept me as a leader. The last day of the transfer we new someone was getting transfered, just not who. We waited and planned. I gave him a pointer about writting in the area book and he got irritated and went off on me, I was annoyed, but I just laughed because it was so ridiculous, but then he went on and on. Then I had it. I gave him the verbal smackdown and then we received a call from the Zone Leaders saying that he was transferred. He sat there and I went to clean dishes as he got his things ready. I washed and washed, just thinking about how the transfer went and what I could have done better as a companion.
Then, Elder Fa walked into the kitchen with tears in his eyes and said ``This transfer was so bad and ti is all my fault.``
I walked over to him and gave him a big hug with my wet soapy dish hands. I forgave him and told him that it took a lot of courage to say that. I was impressed that he admitted to that and gained a lot of respect for him that day. So, though it took the entire transfer to learn, he finally learned a lesson of humility. He is a good guy and a powerful Elder and I know he is going to do great things here in Campinas.
So I stayed and................I AM TRAINING A NEW ELDER!
Or, as we say in the mission, I´m a dad, I have a son.
His name is Elder Luciano, he is a Brazilian from Guiabá, Mato Grosso. He is a great and humble Elder who wants to work and wants to baptize. His dad was a drunk when his family met the missionaries and he would leave the house when they came to teach. But, two months later he was baptized (Elder Luciano was four when all this happened). His dad is now a Bishop in the ward there and it is great to hear the changes that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring.
Elder Freitas, the Elder who trained me and my favorite companion of my mission, is also training this transfer. I love that Elder. It is third time he will train. Also, Elder Cavalcante, my companion in Imperial is traning this transfer. It was good to meet up and talk with them about the experiences we have had.
I am so excitied to train and work with Elder Luciano. When I saw him yesterday, I just knew that it was going to be a good transfer.
Well, we are going to work hard and confide in the Lord that he will give us fruit to harvest he and I am just ready to go out and teach like crazy here in Jaú.
WAY TO GO ON YOUR BAPTISM NOODLE!!! GRAN SENT ME THE PICTURES. YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL AND I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU MADE THE CHOICE TO BE BAPTIZED. YOU REALLY ARE THE WORLDS BEST LITTLE SISTER.
I love you all and hope everything is going good.
Love,
Elder Nothum
Transfers were yesterday. Elder Fa and I were just having such a rough time together. I love him and he is a really funny guy, but he just was always always provoking me and he never accepted any of the counsel I would give him, be it extremely small or big. He just did not accept me as a leader. The last day of the transfer we new someone was getting transfered, just not who. We waited and planned. I gave him a pointer about writting in the area book and he got irritated and went off on me, I was annoyed, but I just laughed because it was so ridiculous, but then he went on and on. Then I had it. I gave him the verbal smackdown and then we received a call from the Zone Leaders saying that he was transferred. He sat there and I went to clean dishes as he got his things ready. I washed and washed, just thinking about how the transfer went and what I could have done better as a companion.
Then, Elder Fa walked into the kitchen with tears in his eyes and said ``This transfer was so bad and ti is all my fault.``
I walked over to him and gave him a big hug with my wet soapy dish hands. I forgave him and told him that it took a lot of courage to say that. I was impressed that he admitted to that and gained a lot of respect for him that day. So, though it took the entire transfer to learn, he finally learned a lesson of humility. He is a good guy and a powerful Elder and I know he is going to do great things here in Campinas.
So I stayed and................I AM TRAINING A NEW ELDER!
Or, as we say in the mission, I´m a dad, I have a son.
His name is Elder Luciano, he is a Brazilian from Guiabá, Mato Grosso. He is a great and humble Elder who wants to work and wants to baptize. His dad was a drunk when his family met the missionaries and he would leave the house when they came to teach. But, two months later he was baptized (Elder Luciano was four when all this happened). His dad is now a Bishop in the ward there and it is great to hear the changes that the gospel of Jesus Christ can bring.
Elder Freitas, the Elder who trained me and my favorite companion of my mission, is also training this transfer. I love that Elder. It is third time he will train. Also, Elder Cavalcante, my companion in Imperial is traning this transfer. It was good to meet up and talk with them about the experiences we have had.
I am so excitied to train and work with Elder Luciano. When I saw him yesterday, I just knew that it was going to be a good transfer.
Well, we are going to work hard and confide in the Lord that he will give us fruit to harvest he and I am just ready to go out and teach like crazy here in Jaú.
WAY TO GO ON YOUR BAPTISM NOODLE!!! GRAN SENT ME THE PICTURES. YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL AND I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU MADE THE CHOICE TO BE BAPTIZED. YOU REALLY ARE THE WORLDS BEST LITTLE SISTER.
I love you all and hope everything is going good.
Love,
Elder Nothum
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Well hello there,
Things are good here in Jaú. This transfer blew by and I can´t believe that it will be over on Tuesday. It has been a great experience working here with Elder Fa. We have had a lot a awesome experiences together. We laugh a lot, which makes the hard times easier.We have not had the success with baptisms that we desired, but we have learned so much together. He has a very good voice and we love to sing to our investigators before we teach them.
There is one woman that we are teaching named Inês. The first time we taught her we sang ´´Careço de Jesus``, ´´I Need the Every Hour´´ in English. When we finishes she gasped and said ´´O My Lord and Our Lady that was beautiful, you two need to make a cd.`` Elder Fa and I couldn´t hold it in. We just started laughing so hard. She asked us why we were laughing, but I was laughing so hard that I couldn´t even talk, I had tears coming out of my eyes. A little later, she too was laughing.
Andrea is progressing well. She said that she still isn´t sure about the baptism. We prepared a lesson about repentance and then ended by asking her if she had already repented of her sins. She said yes. Then we had her read in Moroni where it says ´´The first fruit of repentance is baptism.``
She knows that it is all true and has told us that she believes. We just need to help her understand the importance of baptism.
I really knew practically nothing a year ago. I thought I did. All I had was the base, the foundation that was built thanks to good parents who sacrificed many things to teach me gospel principles. I have taken that foundation and built upon it these last ten months and I can See a great difference in who I am and what is important to me. Iscan´t even explain the transformation that is taking place in my heart. I have so far to go in order to be what the Lord needs me to be, but I will keep striving.
The source of a good life is a life being led by the Spirit. The Spirit comes through keeping our baptismal covenants and also through diligent study and prayer. I have learned so much studying this gospel and I invite you all to do a daily study of the scriptures. Not just reading. But rather, pondering, praying, asking, writing down your impressions and feelings. You will learn things that you will never forget, and you will write them to give yourself and future generations guidance. The source of the Spirit is scripture study, daily.
Love
Elder Nothum
Things are good here in Jaú. This transfer blew by and I can´t believe that it will be over on Tuesday. It has been a great experience working here with Elder Fa. We have had a lot a awesome experiences together. We laugh a lot, which makes the hard times easier.We have not had the success with baptisms that we desired, but we have learned so much together. He has a very good voice and we love to sing to our investigators before we teach them.
There is one woman that we are teaching named Inês. The first time we taught her we sang ´´Careço de Jesus``, ´´I Need the Every Hour´´ in English. When we finishes she gasped and said ´´O My Lord and Our Lady that was beautiful, you two need to make a cd.`` Elder Fa and I couldn´t hold it in. We just started laughing so hard. She asked us why we were laughing, but I was laughing so hard that I couldn´t even talk, I had tears coming out of my eyes. A little later, she too was laughing.
Andrea is progressing well. She said that she still isn´t sure about the baptism. We prepared a lesson about repentance and then ended by asking her if she had already repented of her sins. She said yes. Then we had her read in Moroni where it says ´´The first fruit of repentance is baptism.``
She knows that it is all true and has told us that she believes. We just need to help her understand the importance of baptism.
I really knew practically nothing a year ago. I thought I did. All I had was the base, the foundation that was built thanks to good parents who sacrificed many things to teach me gospel principles. I have taken that foundation and built upon it these last ten months and I can See a great difference in who I am and what is important to me. Iscan´t even explain the transformation that is taking place in my heart. I have so far to go in order to be what the Lord needs me to be, but I will keep striving.
The source of a good life is a life being led by the Spirit. The Spirit comes through keeping our baptismal covenants and also through diligent study and prayer. I have learned so much studying this gospel and I invite you all to do a daily study of the scriptures. Not just reading. But rather, pondering, praying, asking, writing down your impressions and feelings. You will learn things that you will never forget, and you will write them to give yourself and future generations guidance. The source of the Spirit is scripture study, daily.
Love
Elder Nothum
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
I am in a city called São Manuel right now. We are having a Zone P-day and we are all going to play Basketball here.
My companion is Elder Fa, he is from Mesa Arizona and Tongan origin. He is a BOLD missionary. We have many things in common, yet we work in totally different ways. It makes it a little hard to have unity sometimes, but we both just push forward and remember why we are here.
This Sunday was an experience very uplifting. We had so many people planned to go church with us. We had our list prepared and we passed by all of them, and a very small amount went in the morning, three to be exact. In our mission we have standards for our numbers and three in sacrament meeting is in the RED, which is really bad. I desired more people to go there, not because I wanted some vain number, but because I know that a visit to the church in the right state of mind is a catapult to conversion. Yet, there I sat with three. After church we ate lunch at a members house (Lunch is the main meal here, we rarely eat anything for dinner).
As we sat at lunch I remembered that there is another branch that meetd in our building and that I could bring more investigators there. I started to pray and I began to remember people that we could pass to bring to church. Unfortunatly, lunch took forever. Finally, we arrived pack in area of work at about 3:45, fifteen minutes before sacrament meeting. We passed by one woman and she was sleeping and said she wouldn´t go. Then we passed by another and they weren´t home. Then Elder Fa and I remembered in practically the same moment a woman we had taught a few days ago. We ran there and she said that she had a lot of stuff to do, we were firm and promissed many blessings to her, if she would go to church with us. She accepted and her and her daughter went to church.
As we waited for them to get ready, I noticed a man in a wheelchair behind a gate across the street. I felt that I needed to talk with him. Without a word I went to him and started to talk with him. His name was José, I later learned that six months ago he was riding his bike down a hill and there was a cement divider that he didn´t see. He hit it and the bike stayed and he continued. He spine was knocked out of place and he became crippled. I talked to him about church and he told me that the Lord has a plan for us and purpose for everything. I smiled and invited him to church. He thought and looked at his wife. She said that he needed rest, but I saw the longing in his eyes to get out. He said ``Maybe another day``
I said `` God wants you to receive the blessings now, not another day.``
Seconds later we were on our way to church with three more poeple that we had not even planned on bringing. As we walked pushing José in his wheelchair I felt filled with the pure love a Christ. A pure feeling of joy and happiness that cannot be duplicated. I felt that we had freed him from another day of watching the world go by. It was one of the happiest moments of my mission as we walked with him on that windy afternoon, sun shining. We are going to return to his home to teach him this week and I can´t wait to share the message of the restoration with him.
Well, goodbye everyone. I am in dire need of socks right now, I am an owner of six measly pairs. I love you all and I am thankful for your prayers and everything else that you do and have done for me.
NATALIE HOPE NOTHUM IS THE WORLDS GREATEST LITTLE SISTER AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 8 YEAR OLD IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALSO, ELDER FA SAYS THAT HE LOVES YOU TOO.
My companion is Elder Fa, he is from Mesa Arizona and Tongan origin. He is a BOLD missionary. We have many things in common, yet we work in totally different ways. It makes it a little hard to have unity sometimes, but we both just push forward and remember why we are here.
This Sunday was an experience very uplifting. We had so many people planned to go church with us. We had our list prepared and we passed by all of them, and a very small amount went in the morning, three to be exact. In our mission we have standards for our numbers and three in sacrament meeting is in the RED, which is really bad. I desired more people to go there, not because I wanted some vain number, but because I know that a visit to the church in the right state of mind is a catapult to conversion. Yet, there I sat with three. After church we ate lunch at a members house (Lunch is the main meal here, we rarely eat anything for dinner).
As we sat at lunch I remembered that there is another branch that meetd in our building and that I could bring more investigators there. I started to pray and I began to remember people that we could pass to bring to church. Unfortunatly, lunch took forever. Finally, we arrived pack in area of work at about 3:45, fifteen minutes before sacrament meeting. We passed by one woman and she was sleeping and said she wouldn´t go. Then we passed by another and they weren´t home. Then Elder Fa and I remembered in practically the same moment a woman we had taught a few days ago. We ran there and she said that she had a lot of stuff to do, we were firm and promissed many blessings to her, if she would go to church with us. She accepted and her and her daughter went to church.
As we waited for them to get ready, I noticed a man in a wheelchair behind a gate across the street. I felt that I needed to talk with him. Without a word I went to him and started to talk with him. His name was José, I later learned that six months ago he was riding his bike down a hill and there was a cement divider that he didn´t see. He hit it and the bike stayed and he continued. He spine was knocked out of place and he became crippled. I talked to him about church and he told me that the Lord has a plan for us and purpose for everything. I smiled and invited him to church. He thought and looked at his wife. She said that he needed rest, but I saw the longing in his eyes to get out. He said ``Maybe another day``
I said `` God wants you to receive the blessings now, not another day.``
Seconds later we were on our way to church with three more poeple that we had not even planned on bringing. As we walked pushing José in his wheelchair I felt filled with the pure love a Christ. A pure feeling of joy and happiness that cannot be duplicated. I felt that we had freed him from another day of watching the world go by. It was one of the happiest moments of my mission as we walked with him on that windy afternoon, sun shining. We are going to return to his home to teach him this week and I can´t wait to share the message of the restoration with him.
Well, goodbye everyone. I am in dire need of socks right now, I am an owner of six measly pairs. I love you all and I am thankful for your prayers and everything else that you do and have done for me.
NATALIE HOPE NOTHUM IS THE WORLDS GREATEST LITTLE SISTER AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 8 YEAR OLD IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALSO, ELDER FA SAYS THAT HE LOVES YOU TOO.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Oi Tudo Mundo,
We are teaching a woman right now named Andrea. She is the type of person that has lots of outrageous doubts and questions that have nothing to do with anything... well, some of them are valid, but the majority just make you twist your neck and think ´´Wait, huh?``
We have been teaching her for about two weeks now. Just to give a few examples of questions that she has asked
- ``Do you belive that everyone has a demon in them?´´
- ``I think in Heaven there will not be man or women, what do you believe?´´
- ``Have you heared that Eve might not have been the first wife of Adam?``
- ´´I think if someone dies and God lets it happen, then it was the wills of God that that person died. What do you believe?``
Well, she was give us all kinds of questions like this and we strived our best and follwed the Spirit to give her Book of Mormon scriptures that wouls respond to her doubts. But they just went on. Then, the other day I remembered a scripture that I use in Galatians to explain a little bit about prophets and apostasy every now and then. It is the first chapter verses 10-12. I explained to her that we cannot learn the things of God in the same way that we learn the things of the world. We cannot not understand the things of heaven if we look at them with our worldly eyes. We don´t receive gospel truths from men, but from revelation that comes only through the Holy Ghost. I told her that if she wanted to understand this message and receive an answer, she wouls have to pay attention very well to her feelings and thoughts that the Spirit would bring to her. After that night she totally changed and says that she wants to read the entire book of mormon to know that it is true. I told her that is great , but I promised her that she would receive an answer before finishing it.
She has her baptismal date set for the 19th of this month. I asked her how she was feeling about her baptism and she said ``Well, who knows?``
I stopped and thought and felt inspired to respond ´´God knows, and he will make it very clear to you that you need to baptized if you just ask him.´´
It has been so great to watch her progress and see the changes that she has gone through.
Life is good, but I have absolutly NO MONEY!!! This city is in the middle of nowhere. and things are more expensive. And, all of the areas in our zone are way far apart, so we use a lot of money for travel, and I am broke. Luckely, there were some members who have lunch place and they gave us free burgers today, or we would have just not eaten anything.
I did an exchange yesterday with my good friend Elder Long. He bought us a fried pizza. It was amazing. When i cut it in to it the grease just oozed out like blood. That is first and last one I will eat. But it was good talk with him.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH NOODLE-INA!!!!
Amo muito vocês!!!
Elder Nothum
We are teaching a woman right now named Andrea. She is the type of person that has lots of outrageous doubts and questions that have nothing to do with anything... well, some of them are valid, but the majority just make you twist your neck and think ´´Wait, huh?``
We have been teaching her for about two weeks now. Just to give a few examples of questions that she has asked
- ``Do you belive that everyone has a demon in them?´´
- ``I think in Heaven there will not be man or women, what do you believe?´´
- ``Have you heared that Eve might not have been the first wife of Adam?``
- ´´I think if someone dies and God lets it happen, then it was the wills of God that that person died. What do you believe?``
Well, she was give us all kinds of questions like this and we strived our best and follwed the Spirit to give her Book of Mormon scriptures that wouls respond to her doubts. But they just went on. Then, the other day I remembered a scripture that I use in Galatians to explain a little bit about prophets and apostasy every now and then. It is the first chapter verses 10-12. I explained to her that we cannot learn the things of God in the same way that we learn the things of the world. We cannot not understand the things of heaven if we look at them with our worldly eyes. We don´t receive gospel truths from men, but from revelation that comes only through the Holy Ghost. I told her that if she wanted to understand this message and receive an answer, she wouls have to pay attention very well to her feelings and thoughts that the Spirit would bring to her. After that night she totally changed and says that she wants to read the entire book of mormon to know that it is true. I told her that is great , but I promised her that she would receive an answer before finishing it.
She has her baptismal date set for the 19th of this month. I asked her how she was feeling about her baptism and she said ``Well, who knows?``
I stopped and thought and felt inspired to respond ´´God knows, and he will make it very clear to you that you need to baptized if you just ask him.´´
It has been so great to watch her progress and see the changes that she has gone through.
Life is good, but I have absolutly NO MONEY!!! This city is in the middle of nowhere. and things are more expensive. And, all of the areas in our zone are way far apart, so we use a lot of money for travel, and I am broke. Luckely, there were some members who have lunch place and they gave us free burgers today, or we would have just not eaten anything.
I did an exchange yesterday with my good friend Elder Long. He bought us a fried pizza. It was amazing. When i cut it in to it the grease just oozed out like blood. That is first and last one I will eat. But it was good talk with him.
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH NOODLE-INA!!!!
Amo muito vocês!!!
Elder Nothum
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Dear everyone,
Well I passed a long week of training for the new program that the First Presidency approved for every mission in the world and it was great. I learned so many useful things that will change my mission and the rest of my life.
We had an amazing experience last week while I was working with two Elders in Campinas during our training. Elder Ficklin and Elder Steck. We had finished our training for the day and we were off to the area of Elder Steck, Costa e Silva. We taught one lesson and then we hit the streets to find new people to teach. As we walked we saw a shadowed figure below a giant tree. I noticed that he was smoking weed, so when I saw Elder steck going there to contact him I said that that might not be the best idea. Elder Steck said ´´Só vai´´, which is probably the brazilian equivalent of ´´just do it.``
So we talked to him. When we started the conversation the man was licking his blunt and preping it to smoke. Elder Steck spoke of how we were representatives of Jesus Christ, sent to help him have more peace and happiness. The man said that he was getting ready to baptized in another church, but that he started smoking again, so he stopped going to that church. He then said that it he will stop in the future, but that he doesn´t want to right now. He said that he was 17 and he already had a child and another one on the way. I asked him what type of example he would like to give to his children, and he said ´´Surely not this one.``
I told him if he wanted to change and bless the life of his children and wife, he needed to stop now. He looked at me and then ripped his blunt in two and tossed it on the ground, he then removed a plastic bag from his pocket filled with weed and dumped it on the ground too. I then invited him to guide us to his house so that we could teach him. He accepted.
As we walked there we reaccounted the story of how that morning, he had prayed asking Heavenly Father to send someone to halp him because he was feeling so weak. He then said that he had already smoked once that day in that exact same spot. He told us that as he was returing to that same spot to smoke again that night, he heard a voice in his head saying ´´Don´t go there! Smoke somwhere else!`` He said that he recognized the voice as Satan. He said he pushed onn to where he felt he needed to go, where we met him.
That is just one of the many miracles that I see daily as a missionary. I am so thankful for this opportunity.
We are also teaching a women named Andea who always has tons of questions about the plan of salvation, which we are finally going to teach her tonight. I can´t wait.
i LOVE YOU NOODLE, YOU ARE THE BEST LITTLE SISTER EVER AND WAY TO GO ON YOUR BAPTISM!!!!!
-Elder Nothum
Well I passed a long week of training for the new program that the First Presidency approved for every mission in the world and it was great. I learned so many useful things that will change my mission and the rest of my life.
We had an amazing experience last week while I was working with two Elders in Campinas during our training. Elder Ficklin and Elder Steck. We had finished our training for the day and we were off to the area of Elder Steck, Costa e Silva. We taught one lesson and then we hit the streets to find new people to teach. As we walked we saw a shadowed figure below a giant tree. I noticed that he was smoking weed, so when I saw Elder steck going there to contact him I said that that might not be the best idea. Elder Steck said ´´Só vai´´, which is probably the brazilian equivalent of ´´just do it.``
So we talked to him. When we started the conversation the man was licking his blunt and preping it to smoke. Elder Steck spoke of how we were representatives of Jesus Christ, sent to help him have more peace and happiness. The man said that he was getting ready to baptized in another church, but that he started smoking again, so he stopped going to that church. He then said that it he will stop in the future, but that he doesn´t want to right now. He said that he was 17 and he already had a child and another one on the way. I asked him what type of example he would like to give to his children, and he said ´´Surely not this one.``
I told him if he wanted to change and bless the life of his children and wife, he needed to stop now. He looked at me and then ripped his blunt in two and tossed it on the ground, he then removed a plastic bag from his pocket filled with weed and dumped it on the ground too. I then invited him to guide us to his house so that we could teach him. He accepted.
As we walked there we reaccounted the story of how that morning, he had prayed asking Heavenly Father to send someone to halp him because he was feeling so weak. He then said that he had already smoked once that day in that exact same spot. He told us that as he was returing to that same spot to smoke again that night, he heard a voice in his head saying ´´Don´t go there! Smoke somwhere else!`` He said that he recognized the voice as Satan. He said he pushed onn to where he felt he needed to go, where we met him.
That is just one of the many miracles that I see daily as a missionary. I am so thankful for this opportunity.
We are also teaching a women named Andea who always has tons of questions about the plan of salvation, which we are finally going to teach her tonight. I can´t wait.
i LOVE YOU NOODLE, YOU ARE THE BEST LITTLE SISTER EVER AND WAY TO GO ON YOUR BAPTISM!!!!!
-Elder Nothum
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