Maribondo

We got two new elders in our district and the sisters were transferred out two weeks ago. Elder Eberhardt and I were working hard and on Friday he got stung by a wasp, which didn't turn out too nicely. But don't worry! He's ok! Well, this week was good. Or it started out nicely. It started to rain a little. It was nice. It´s been very hot lately and the rain cooled the weather down a bit. We woke up in the morning and it was raining and the weather was cool. It was great!

We're teaching a great family! They are really awesome. We gave them a Book of Mormon and they´re reading it! Domingas, the mom, was having a rough day or she was feeling irritated or something, and she decided to read the Book of Mormon. When she read it she felt a lot better! Her husband and two children are great too. They are a very receptive family.

It´s great to see how when people decide to actually read the Book of Mormon it makes a difference in their life. I wish everyone would read it. It truly testifies of Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is true. It´s the proof that God gave us to know that Jesus Christ lives, that we have a modern living prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I hope you're all doing well. I love you all.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Sushi and Onigiri

Today Elder Eberhardt and I made some sort of sushi roll and onigiri. A member in São Luís gave me some nori, that I´ve been saving, and we used it today. It was a great lunch. My companion discovered he really likes onigiri. He said that he is really lucky because he´s one of the few people in this mission that gets to have a Japanese companion.

This past week was "Childrens Day" here in Brazil on the 12 of October. So, happy Children´s day to everyone! or Feliz Dia das Crianças para todos!

Yesterday, was the confirmation of Senior Martins. It was interesting. He´s hard of hearing, and when the bishop called him up to be confirmed he didn´t realize he was being called up, so my comp and I went to get him, and tried to tell him he needed to go up to the pulpit to be confirmed, but you see we tried to do it reverently. So he, being hard of hearing, says "What? I´m half def, can you speak up?" Anyway, you can imagine it was kind of funny. But we brought him up to the front and the bishop confirmed him. It was a really nice confirmation. The bishop here in Açailândia is great! He´s really short, but he has a huge spirit. You can see in his eyes. He´s a really good example of a good church leader. He loves the people and loves the gospel and is really excited about doing the Lord´s work.

Anyway, things are starting to pick up here. We´ve been find and working with some really good families! It´s really nice. We've been teaching a lot about eternal families lately. Families can be together forever. It´s one of the greatest blessing that our Loving Father in Heaven has in store for us. If we are faithful and live His gospel we can live with our families forever. This blessing was restored to the earth once again after the restoration of the gospel and the church of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith.

I love you. I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Entrevistas Batismais

So, as a district leader one of my responsibilities is to interview the people who are preparing for baptism. It´s a blessing to be able to do these interviews. There are some people who are really ready and anxious to be baptized others who don´t know that they´re ready and I help them realize they are and then there are others who aren´t ready yet. But it´s been really nice to be able to do this. This past week I was able to do about 4 interviews for the sisters in my district, and 3 people were baptized. All 4 of the people are really great. Anyway, it was a nice week. I hope you all have a good week too. Make sure you read the Book of Mormon this week. I know it is true. I love you.

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Sapatos

General Conference was greatly rewarding. This time we didn´t have the opportunity to watch it in English, but that´s okay because I understand Portuguese well enough to take notes. I prefer the natural voice, but I was still able to learn a lot. The conference was very spiritually rewarding.

During the break in between the sessions on Sunday we had a baptismal service. An old man whom we have been teaching was baptized, along with a woman and an 8 year old boy that the sisters were teaching. It was a very special day. My companion, Elder Eberhardt is farely new in the field, and it was the first person who he found, taught, and baptized. Everyone was very happy. Senhor Martins, who we baptized on Sunday, has problems in his legs and walks with a cane. Sunday morning he woke up dizzy, but got himself ready and got on the bus to go to conference and his baptism. Talk about an elect of God. We walked him home afterward, and he told us that as soon as he was baptized he didn´t feel dizzy anymore and that he felt great. His wife passed away about 5 years ago. We´re also teaching his daughter and her family who also went to conference and are really liking the church and the gospel. Actually, we´re helping her husband build they´re new house. But they are waiting for the next load of bricks to arrive before we can help out more.

On another note, the shoes and package still haven´t arrived, but good news! A sister here hunted down new shoes for me, and found some in my size. (all the sisters in the ward here were worried about my shoes....) I tell everyone the story of the confusion with the postal service and how I´m just waiting for my new shoes to arrive, but I guess that didn´t work. Anyways, the members here are very supportive and love the missionaries. They take good care of us. I´ve been lucky. All my areas, all the members are really great!

So, it´s been a really good week. Today we made hamburgers(like legit burgers), as a farewell for a sister (Sister Matos from São Paulo) in our district who will be ending her mission next week as well as another elder (Elder Bailey from Salt Lake) in our zone. I really love the missionaries in my mission. I love my mission and the missionaries here too. It´s hard sometimes but, looking back the only things that I really remember are the good moments. I´m learning a lot. A lot about life, a lot about marriage (weird right?) and a lot about the gospel. It´s really a blessing to be here. The world is a lot different than I once thought. My perspective has changed a lot.

Anyway, I´m really grateful to have a modern living prophet. That´s one of the greatest things of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The knowledge that God loves us enough to call a prophet in our day to lead us and guide us. I´m also really grateful for the Book of Mormon, which is the proof of the truthfulness of the gospel and the restoration thereof. I hope everyone is doing well. I encourage you to read the Book of Mormon everyday and find a way to share the gospel with someone. How great would it be knowing that we helped someone else find their way back to live with our Father in Heaven? I love you. Have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Baptism from conference

Guaraná Jesus (a soda that only exists in Maranhão Brasil)

A Galera Na Praça

So, there is this really nice park/square close to our apartment. It´s a great place to do contacts. We found a large group of teenage boys last week and went marked with them to talk to them another night. We went there and taught about the Plan of Salvation to ten teenagers. We´re going to go there tomorrow night. They all seemed truly interested, not all of them, but the majority. They all asked really good and interesting questions. It was a really cool experience. I hope that they all pray and get answers and follow through until baptism.

We´re also helping one of our investigators build his house. I´ll have to send some pictures next week. Here the houses are made of bricks, but we were working more on the foundation of the house on Saturday. Next time we´re going to start putting the walls up. The work is good here. Things are starting to pick up a bit.

I hope everyone is getting ready for general conference. Make sure you pay attention and take notes. Try to focus on the things that YOU need to improve on, and not on others. We need to fix ourselves before we can help others. I´m really grateful to have a modern living prophet who helps us with our day to day needs and problems. I am truly grateful that the gospel was restored. I love you all! Have a great time watching conference, and be sure to make it your #1 priority this upcoming weekend.

Love,

Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Querida família

Things here are going well. I don´t know if I am allergic to watermelon or if it´s just a coincidence. Last night we ate watermelon and during the middle of the night I threw up! So much for my goal not to throw up during my mission. It´s the second time actually. My comp and I are thinking it was lunch yesterday that made me feel ill. Don´t worry! I´m totally fine! We found a "Bem Vindo a Açailândia" sign (welcome to açailand). So we took advantage of the situation and took a picture. I've also attached a picture of my previous zone, we had a BBQ at our house that day.

Sunday was stake conferece in Imperatriz. Presidente Dias came as well as the area 70 Elder Koch (who is from my companion´s home ward in Santa Catarina Brazil). It was a really good conference. There is always something important to learn. I´ve been reading the Liahona from February this year, it´s really good! I feel like everything in that Liahona are things I need to know! I guess it´s the Ensign back home right? Anyway, I suggest reading the ensign from february 2011.

General Conference is coming up. I hope everyone is excited! I sure am. I´m really grateful for a modern living prophet and for the twelve apostles. They are truly inspired men. I hope you have a great week! This week is going to be great and we are going to find those who are searching for truth! Love you all!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

Training is São Luís

This past week I traveled to São Luís by bus for 10 hours for a leadership training. It was a good training. I slept on the bus ride there and the bus ride back to my area. The fun thing about taking long bus rides is that the sweaters that Janet bought me before the mission come in handy. Trainings and bus rides are the only times it gets cold enough to wear a sweater. Thanks sis! Something interesting happened when I got back from the training. I realized that my ankles, feet, and calves were swollen. It was really weird! That has never happened to me that I can remember. I called Sister Dias and she had the Doctor is São Paulo call me. The doctor said it was nothing to worry about and that water likes to accumulate in the lowest part of the body when you don´t do anything. So, he said next time I travel for a long period of time without being able to get up and walk around I should do some exercises every once in a while to keep my circulation going nicely. Anyway, you learn something new every day right?

The work here is good. The people are really open and are really easy to talk to. The trick is now we have to find the people who are looking, rather than trying to convince the people who don´t want anything. So, that´s what we are going to work on a lot this week. Yesterday we took a young member of the church with us to do some visits. It was pretty cool.

I´m really grateful to be here serving the Lord. I´m really happy. I know the gospel is true. I´ve seen , or better yet, I see people change because of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It´s amazing. Everything here is building my testimony a lot. I've got just a few months left, but I´m going to make the best of it. I know the Book fo Mormon is true and that it is proof of the true church of Jesus Christ. I love you, and I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Samuel H. Chiba

p.s. we found a jaca fruit in the street!