Boa Tarde! It´s almost Maio!

Don´t ask about the title heading. I just felt like writing that. Anyway, Monday when we went to email we were there for about maybe 15 minutes, and there was a power outage. Go figure. But yesterday was Zone Conference and I talked to Presidente Dias (Preh-zi-denchi Jias) I don´t know if that made sense or not. Anyway, he gave us permission to email today.

So, one of the scariest moments of my life happened Monday night during the power outage. Oh, but first. I´ve made it through my first transfers. I´m still in the same area (which I am glad, the people here are great), but I have a new companion. His name is Elder Pio. He´s from Bahia. He´s pretty cool. Anyway, that happened last week.

So, the scary moment, the power was out, but fortunately I had my flashlight with my avatar the last airbender sticker on it. We got home because the streets were dark and we can´t really teach at night without power. In our house we walk it and I got to where my luggage is stationed, and above my luggage on the wall is this huge spider about the size of my palm. (i don´t have small hands) it had 7 legs and I´m pretty sure it was a brazillian wandering spider, which are not cool. It wasn´t a turantula I´ve seen a couple of those even one near our door one time. anyway, I tried to kill it with my shoe, but this thing was super lighting fast. fortunately we had it cornered and my companion super kicked it and it died. man that thing was nasty!!! i took a shower afterward. oh, funny thing too. earlier that day I decided to clean and oraganize my luggage and keep everything zipped up because I saw a small spider near by. (i´m pretty sure that was inspiration from the Lord, protecting me) Oh, also, a couple of weeks ago I started teaching an english class. it´s cool. now i´ve got two. One on Tuesday and one on Thursday.

Well, I don´t have much time left. I love you all. I know that the gospel I teach about everyday is true without any doubt. There is no possible way it cannot be. So, if you want to know for yourself, ask God in sincere prayer if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the true church of God that Christ established while He was on the earth. I know He will respond to your prayer if you pray sincerely.

Love,

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Things Are Still Nice

So, good news with the language. Sometimes more often than not I can understand basicly what people are talking about. But also very often I have the question mark look on my face and people laugh because of my confusion. I don´t mind though.

Funny thing happened today. We went to the central part of the city to the post office and get our money, and we got some food while downtown. I was trying to order something, but I obviously couldn´t really express what I wanted very clearly, and the lady asked the other elders if I was from China. I´m still fascinated at the fact that people realize that I am Asian. I mean you all know I´m half Japanese because I´ve said it, so when you see me you know I´m Japanese, but normally people who see me think I´m Polynesian or Hispanic. It´s amazing.

Anyway, last week there was this freak rainstorm in the middle of the afternoon. And I mean it downpoured. We encountered the mother of one of our recently baptized members and I shared my umbrella with her. In seconds we were both half soaked. My companion who refuses to use an umbrella ever is always soaked whenever it rains. I´ve tried to share, but he says no. Anyway, my shoes were soaked, and I couldn´t where them for a few days. It was fun though. It never just sprinkles for a little bit. There is always a downpour after the little bit of rain. The other night I saw the wall of water headed for me as I quickly struggled to get my umbrella out of my backpack. That was also exciting.

Oh, by the way, the clouds here are amazing! I´ll try to take a picture some time. Also, I´ve never seen so much lightning in my life or experience so many power outages. Remember when California had those "rolling blackouts"? Well my friends, that was nothing compared to here. I tried a new fruit this week. It´s called ata. It´s pretty good actually. Different but good. Total of new fruits I´ve had here is about 8. I don´t remember all of their names though. Oh, and the mangos. Oh sweet mangos. The best mangos of my life I´ve had here. They are sooooo delicious! Also, the soda "Guaraná" is great. I´ve had a lot of that too. So, if you get the chance, go to a Brazilian restaurant and get some churrasco (shoohaskoo, Brazilian BBQ) and some Guaraná.

Ok, so more on the topic from last week. In 1820 in the North Eastern part of the U.S. there was a lot of religious excitement. Joseph Smith, a boy of the age of 14 at the time, was confused about which church was true. All of these churches preached about Salvation and used the Bible, but interepreted things very differently. He wanted to know which of the sects was true. So, one day he was reading in the Bible in James 1:5, which says "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering…". So, he did as James counceled. He went off into the forrest to pray. A miraculous thing happened. God The Father and His son, Jesus Christ, appeared before him. They told him that none of the churches were true. So, God had a great task for Joseph. He was called by God to be a prophet.

Through Joseph Smith, God translated an ancient record written on gold plates that contained the history of the people in the Americas (or Native Americans). This ancient record is now called The Book of Mormon, and it´s pages contain the complete gospel of Jesus Christ. So, through Joseph Smith, God restored His gospel and His church. The authority to govern His church has been passed down from prophet to prophet, and today our current prophet is Thomas S. Monson. It´s so amazing! I love this gospel. I know it´s true and I know it´s true because I´ve received a witness that it is true through sincere prayer to my Father in Heaven. I know that if you pray to know it is true you will know also, but first you need to exercise some faith and pray. I love you all.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

So, things are nice.

So, life here is very humble for everyone. I´m also still amazed at the fact that people recognize that I am of Asian descent. They usually ask if I´m from China or Japane. The other day a kid yelled to me ´Take me back to China with you!´ I didn´t have the heart to tell him I was American. Everyday, I learn a new reason why the Lord sent me here or what I am supposed to do to help the people in my area. It´s very cool. I´ve decided to take a new approach and outlook on things. I was so distrought about so many little things that I´ve missed out on other things. Thank goodness it´s still in the beginning. So, the people are wonderful. I tried a new fruit I think it was yesterday called bacuri. It was gross to say the least. That´s one for the things to avoid list. My arms and my neck up are getting darker by the day. I think I´ll appear more like my father that I thought I ever would. In the streets you either see kids playing soccer or flying home made kites. It´s pretty cool. As far as work goes for people, I´m not too sure. I´ll have to look into that more. It´s kind of rural, but not. It´s not really the city either. I´ll take more pictures. It´s hard to explain, but there is a lot of lush green everywhere. Kind of like Hawaii but landlocked.

So, God our Heavenly Father is a just God. Since the beginning of man He has called prophets, but time after time people stop listening to or reject the prophets. For example Adam, Noah, and Moses. Eventually He sent His son Jesus Christ to be a prophet, but also our Savior. When Christ was on the earth He established His church. His church contained a prophet (Jesus Christ), twelve apostles, and the authority to govern His church. But, just as before, people rejected Christ and eventually His apostles, and the Church and authority to govern His church was taken away from the earth. But since God is a just God and unchanging, He called another prophet. This prophet was called Joseph Smith. Through Joseph Smith, God restored His church to the Earth. (I'd explain more, but I only have a few minutes left. So...) Today we have a living prophet, his name is Thomas S. Monson, and through him, God gives us direction. I know that Christ lives and that His church has been restored to the earth. I love you all.

Your Friend, Brother, Son, and Elder
Samuel H. Chiba

Pascoa (Easter)

I think I´ve been starting to realize what I´m specifically supposed to do here in Teresina, but only kind of because of the language barrier, which is being taken down one brick at a time. I´m really starting to love the people here. This whole experience in the field has been really humbling. The way of living here is very different. For example, if you have a car you are farely well off, but not too many people have cars. We get fed lunch by the members everyday. (lunch is the main meal of the day from what I´ve observed) Sometimes though, I feel bad about eating at their homes because I´m not sure if they can afford to feed us or not, but I can´t not eat for many reasons. First off it would be rude, and secondly it´s sometimes the only food I really eat everyday. We were at a member´s house for lunch, and she fed us this great meal. But I felt bad, and then she was talking about how everyone in California is rich and how I´m probably rich (not true, but in comparison it is true). She wasn´t spiteful or anything, just a matter of fact. She´s a very happy lady. It´s people like her that make me like being here and also teach me some life lessons I´m not sure she was aware she was teaching me. Just being here is eye opening. Don´t worry, I´ve only lost about 7 kilos. But I´m still healthy.

Oh, also family and friends, whenever you see the moon just high five it. That´s what I´ve been doing, but I don´t think I´ve told too many people to do that.

General Conference this past weekend was amazing. (for those of you who don´t know, General Conference happens twice a year. It´s when the Prophet, apostles, and other church leaders give talks/discourses to help us all strengthen our families and become better people. This event is broadcasted worldwide so that people all over the world can listen to the words of the prophetand other inspired people. You can listen and/or watch it at lds.org in many different languages, but for anyone reading this, you´ll want to watch it in English) [http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-1207,00.html]

Anyway, I learned a lot. If anyone tells you that serving a mission is easy, they probably have not served a real mission, because it´s not. But something that I learned this weekend watching conference was that many people have sacrificed a lot, even until death, to bring the gospel to other people. For example there was a story in one of the talks about one of the men [John Wycliff?] who had gone through many trials to bring forth an English translation of the Bible to the hands of the common man, but he was persecuted and even died for his cause. There is also Joseph Smith who faced much opposition his whole life, translating the Book of Mormon and restoring the Church of Jesus Christ. There were also the Mormon pioneers, some of which are my ancestors, who had many afflictions, but yet persevered until they arrived to their point of destination. All of these people are great examples to me of people who sacrificed many things to bring forth and establish the word of God.

Another thing I learned at conference was that whenever you have a trial or rough time in your life, you shouldn´t complain about it or pass blame onto others. The key is changing your attitude, which I kind of knew before, but I suppose coming from the mouth of one of the Apostles made me realize what I had been doing and that I need to get my act together. Right now, it is my turn to share the gospel with others. And I am happy to serve the Lord in this mighty work. I find that when I am teaching and serving others is when I am the happiest. Also, when I am teaching I am able to understand and speak more Português, which is amazing. It´s a tremendous blessing, and builds my testimony that what I am teaching about is true because I experience the "gift of tongues" which is mentioned in the scriptures.

This past weekend was also Easter (Pascoa in Português, not Pascão like I wrote last week), which is probably the best holiday. It´s this time of the year that we can especially reflect of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which started in the garden of Gethsemane, then on the cross at Calvary, then the empty tomb. I want you all to know that Jesus Christ lives, that His church is on the earth, and He directs His church through His prophet Thomas S. Monson. I love you all.

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

my address is

Rua Tersandro Paz, No. 2.129 - sl 105-108
Bairro Piçarro, Teresina - PI
CEP: 64015-015