Tuesday, July 20, 2010

18 July 2010

Dear Family, Well everything is going good here in Barbalha. How are you guys doing? I hope you are doing really great. Its so cool here in Barbalha. Its really has been growing since we got here. The first Sunday there were like 48 members, the next there was like 64 and then yesterday there was like 84. I feel like I am in a movie here. The church is so young in this jungle town. You never know what is going to go wrong at church. For example, this Sunday someone was going to give the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and they got up and started saying something like this, Brothers and Sisters I would like to give you a warning, that next week we would like all the married brothers to be here...and then the branch president cut him off and told him to just say a prayer. I really would like to know what he was going to say. I think I will ask him later. Also it is funny because whenever you say Good Morning brothers and sisters they always say good morning back....always!! So this week was good. One thing we did was go work at the ExpoCrato thing where the church had a tent. IT was kinda lame because last year the missionaries talked with like every single person that passed by and they got all their addresses and stuff, but a bunch of the addresses were wrong and stuff, so this year the president was like just sit back and if someone walks into the tent and is interested then you can talk to them and stuff. THey also had a bunch of animals there which was kind of cool, I got to touch a goat and a sheep. They have these really big cow things with big hump back things, almost like a camel, its called a BOI. So this week we baptized one man named Nei. He is the kinda crazy guy, yet so cool. We found him when we were knocking doors, and he let us in before we even said anything (which alot of people do here). He always speaks what he thinks which is kinda cool. So he is basically the man. So I got 5 letters which is awesome, thank you guys, but I have given up hope of getting the one package that you guys sent in April. Is that the last one you sent. You shouldnt worry about me here, I am doing fine, but thanks!! I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the church that Jesus Christ established, again on the Earth. One thing that annoys me is that a lot of people think that it doesnt matter what church you belong to, it doesnt matter if you are baptized or not, because God´s love is so great that he will save us all. Not everyone that says Lord Lord will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of God. I know that all of us have to repent and be baptized in the true church.
Love,Elder Willoughby
































































































Tuesday, July 6, 2010

{July 5, 2010}

Dear Family,
Well everything is going really well. I have lots of things to say so I hope I dont forget anything. Alright to answer one question Elder Porto has 2 more transfers and he will end in 21 September.
Alright so when I was at the office one thing that made me feel good about myself was president batt pulled me aside and told me that because I worked well this last transfer he was sending me to Barbalha. But he kinda of scolded me and told me that I have to be perfect here. The missionaries call this the Celestial Kingdom. The two other cities close to here that have missionaries are Juazeiro do Norte and Crato. So the church has been in Juazeiro for 10 years but in Barbalha for only 10 months. In the past 6 months there have been over 100 baptisms. Everyone here is a recent convert. The only one that hasnt been baptized in the past 10 months is the Branch President Silva. He moved here from Rio de Janeiro and is a member for like 15 years. My companion Elder Magno is the Branch Secretary.
What else? So this is the only house in the mission that has 6 elders. Its crazy 6 missionaries for 1 branch. So this week there were just like 45 members at church, 6 missionaries, and 23 investigators. And we had a baptism!! It was an awesome young woman named Márcia. She´s 18 years old. I think they found her through this awesome family that the missionaries before me baptized.
So Elder Magno is awesome. He is from Sao Paulo. He is working hard still which is awesome. I knew him when I was companions with Elder Lopes, he was training Elder Redd. Elder A. Mendonça also lives with us. He was the secretary of finances of the mission. He is really funny and awesome and I love him because he is so cool. He is from the State of A Lagoas. He is training an American named Elder Warn who is from California and cool. Also there is Elder Nascimento who I knew before. He spent the night at my house my first night in the mission field. He saw me being born. He is really cool too. And his companion is Elder Gomes who is cool also and from Sao Paulo. THis is just his second transfer.
SO the busride here was good. We left from fortaleza at 10 pm and got to juazeiro at 6 am and then took a taxi to barbalha. Oh yeah and one cool thing is that Elder Carvalho, my trainer, was one of the missionaries that opened this city. What else???
So Elder King and Elder T Larsen who are both from my group arein Crato so I see them every Tuesday for District Meeting.
Barbalha is cool. So there is this dead guy here named Padre Cicero and everybody loves. him. You can look him up. The cajuina factory Sao Geraldo is close by. The sky at night here is incredible. Here is more like a jungle, and for the first time this week I taught straight up in the jungle, with mosquitoes, palm trees, pigs and all.
For some reason I am not being able to send pictures right now so I will send them later. Oh yeah and here the Zone Leaders only get the mail like every 3 weeks so stuff will take longer to get to me here.Well thats it and tell people to send me letters!

With all the love that my heart posseses,
Elder Willoughby

{June 28, 2010}

Dear Family,
Thanks for all the emails and the letters. Well I am kinda of in a hurry right now because I am at the office because I was transfered and there are a lot of missionaries are waiting for the computer. Well this week was good. I am going to Barbalha which is close to Juazeiro do Norte and Crato which is a 12 hour bus ride from here. We leave tonight! My companion will be Elder Magno who is on his last transfer. Sorry its such a short email. Tchau!


Elder Willoughby