´´FELIZ PASCOA!´´ (Happy Easter)

´´FELIZ PASCOA!´´ 

(Happy Easter!)

Family,

This week was really great! So first of all, we had transfers! And all is well! haha The two new missionaries are great. My new comp, Elder Rodrigues dos Santos, is obedient and hardworking. Exactly what I prayed for! (yes he’s brazillian!) Elder Hauck, new comp of Elder Assis is really awesome too! Finally another American in the same shoes as me!! haha. he served for 9 months in Colorado and 4 months here in Brazil. Everybody says I speak better than him bc he has a real American accent too! haha but I´d say were just about the same! So that’s nice. We can be the minorities in brazil together now. haha! it’s nice to be able to share the same experiences with each other! Oh and Elder Hauck has a cousin serving in Columbus, Ohio mission!!( since march). keep an eye out for him! haha his name is Elder Hauck as well. 

 With Elder Sol before he was transfered

So this week was my birthday!? crazy! haha. My birthday sure is different on the mission but was still great. Trabalha, trabalha, trabalha!  (work work work) at the end of the day, the other Elders surprised me with cake which was super nice of them! Overall a great birthday! most of all, I am grateful for my birth and for the opportunity I have to be serving a mission right now! I couldn’t be here today without my birth! haha so thank you! 

 This week was especially special bc of Easter. The people here in brazil love to celebrate holidays for a week! So all the stores have been closed and everyone just really focuses on family. It’s pretty awesome. Especially Easter Sunday! The spirit was so strong the entire day. Both my comp and I recognized this. The people were so receptive and the spirit was so strong with us each home we visited and every message we shared. such an amazing experience! Oh and I talked for Easter Sunday as well just like dad and mom! haha. how cool is that!? starting to get used to giving lessons and talks without planning. we never have time! So instead we have to rely on the holy ghost to guide us in our thoughts and words to share our message. It’s pretty cool experience! This will defiantly be the best 2 years of my life! The hardest, but the most accomplishing and worth it! Eternally blessing the lives of others. Love it! For Easter almoço (lunch) we had an awesome churrasco!!! Huge family reunion and lots of fresh meat and food! Gaucho music playing in background. Horses dogs cats running around. Passing around chimarrou. really an AWESOME family culture and reunion to be a part of! not to mention all of the desserts and dolces (candy) we received!

 Elder Sargents Dad Kevin served his mission in Argentina so before Elder Sargent left to Brazil he knew a few of the traditions of Argentina, little did he know in his first area he would be in a town that borders Argentina....so close to where his dad served so while Elder Sargent is embracing some of the traditions there at home his Dad and brother shared a moment of those same traditions.

 Man good stuff. (oh! ps. ate cow heart the other day! not too bad) but mostly, i loved how everyone was in the spirit of family and Easter, really remembering and accepting our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Sorry family I’m out of time. Wish I could share more of these awesome experiences but just know I’m having a great mission and the time of the life! Trust and know that the Lord is with me and I’m never alone. He will protect me. This week was really special and a great week!

I love and miss all of you so much! happy Easter!

have a great week and always remember our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Sargent   

p.s this week I’m grateful for the unity of family, our savior Jesus Christ, and churrascos (barbeque)!! haha they are really great and its awesome to be part of such a cool family centered culture

Através a Expiação de Jesus Cristo, todos nós podemos arrepender e ser limpos de nossos pecados. Eu sou muito grato por meu Salvador, Jesus Cristo, e por tudo Ele fez e faz para mim. Somente por meio da Expiação de Jesus Cristo, nós podemos ficar a presencia de Deus com nossas famílias para eternidade

(Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can all repent and be cleansed of our sins. I am very grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and all that he has done for me. Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can return to the presence of God with our families for eternity.) 

Happy Easter

Because of Him  click --> Video

E aí família,

First of all, I was able to download general conf in English onto my iPod!!!!! So I can listen to a talk per night until I get through all of it! haha I can’t contain my excitement!!!! so grateful I get to listen and absorb all of the knowledge and spirit I can from the words of the prophet and apostles! Um milagre. ( A miracle)

Every Six months we get to hear special messages prepared by the Leaders of our church. We believe God calls a Prophet and Apostles in our day. This is what Elder Sargent is talking about when he refers to Conference. I have provided a link to the talks we got to hear, they are always very inspiring. Just click on --> April 2014 General Conference

This was was a better great week!! I really tried to get myself lost in the work and love the people here. Made for an awesome week lots of hard work, miracles, and blessings! As always! fulfilling the work of the Lord, can’t get much better than that. Like everyone always says, this will be the hardest, but best 2 years of my life! so true.

I really liked the talk (from conference can't remember who at moment) that talked about our FAITH. and asked where is our faith? in a team? a sport? an actor? But all teams can fail, fall, and lose. The only one who can´t is our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our faith should always be in Him. With this faith we can´t fall. I love this! so true. Jesus Christ is the rock we build our foundation and testimony. This isn’t mans church; it is the church of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Anyways, there’s my short spiritual thought for the week! and this counts for what I’m grateful for this week too! Because this testimony of faith in Jesus Christ really did bring joy into my life this week. And for this, I am grateful. I am also grateful for the world Jesus Christ created for us. Every day I think how beautiful the trees, the plants, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, anything and everything about nature are. And then I think how awesome it is the Christ created this wonderful, beautiful world for us to live on.

Pictures from the Past 2 weeks including the New Apartment they moved into

 

 

(excerpt from another e-mail):

We teach mostly members, and work with the members right now, and less actives. As far as investigators, we have 1 really good family we’re focusing on. pretty sure they will get baptized 1st week of may. Leda, Audrielle, and Allysson. (they recently lost their dad/spouse)it is  tough for them. But it’s amazing to see the gospel change and bless their lives! For example, Leda told us after we visited them, she could finally sleep a full night’s sleep without dreams waking here up and now she told us she doesn’t need her depression drugs anymore and the kids (around 14 and 11) are learning and loving the gospel as well! Especially Allysson he wants to be baptized this week! haha but we want to baptize the family all together to make sure ALL of them get to receive the same blessings and eternal joy.

The language is coming good! I think. haha no one really to compare to because I’m the only American in Itaqui lol. Its def different because we don’t memorize any lessons. so I have to rely on the holy ghost and the doctrine and testimony I know to be true. But for the most part I can understand them and get my point across. Sometimes it is difficult because down here in the south there are many gaucho accents and words!! haha but the language is coming! I find myself surprisingly thinking in Portuguese every once in a while. CRAZY weird!

My feet are MUCH better! only a blister here and there every once in a while my shoes are holding up great. I mostly use the more boot type shoe that you have, because its easier on my feet. but all is good here in itaqui!

Pictures with Elder George as he finishes his mission

Anyways this week is transfers!! (A transfer is a 6 week period of time in which a missionary will proselyte in a certain area of their mission, at the end of the six weeks if the missionary is to go to a new area is is referred to as being transfered if not they remain in the area they reside.)  I will be staying in Itaqui. yay! There must be more work for me to do here. Elder George finished his 2 year mission. He heads home. crazy! One day that will be all of us. Elder Assis stays here as well. but as for my comp he’s being transferred to be a zone leader in urugyuana!! Congrats!  He will be great my new comp will be elder Rodriguez dos Santos.  elder Assis will have a new comp, Elder Hawk, an American! I won’t be the only one! haha. transfers is on Tuesday. It will be a fast crazy week probably but will be good! I pray for another great week for all of us! The Sargent team. I love and miss all of you! thanks so much for everything!! Love you.

Love,

Elder Sargent

--Eu sei que essa igreja é verdadeira. Eu sei que o livro de mórmon é verdadeiro também. Eu sou muito grato por testemunho que Eu tenho. Que nossa família pode ser juntos para eternidade. Isso é a obra de Deus.-- 

Elder Sargent goes fishing!

Hey Family!

 Fishing last p-day was a blast! Definitely won’t forget it. José, the man that was recently baptized, took us. it was way cool! fishing gaucho style! hah, who needs a fishing pole when you have line and your hands! (this is how most people fish here) just line, some weight, a hook, and a worm! that’s right. haha the line is tied around a bottle or aircan, grab the end of line with hook, swing it around your head like a slingshot, and let it fly! I can cast further this way than with a pole! haha seriously though. then you just hold onto the line and when feel a bite, yank and pull the fish in! It was way fun! We only caught 4 small ones (the fish is called ´´bicudo´´ kind of similar to catfish mas o menos) but José kept all of them and will eat them! haha the culture is deff different here. We fished on the Uruguai river! And it’s way cool bc on the other side of the river is Argentina!! I have some pics of it. oh! And after you catch the fish you have to rip the side fins/bones off bc super sharp! Got a few small cuts, like normal when fishing, but so worth it! haha. My fish however, just happened to be the biggest of the 4 small fish we caught, no big deal. haha! (Jake, dad, and I would always have contests) 

 So a few nights ago we found a scorpion in our house! (old house now) way cool! and kinda scary. haha. I guess kinda rare tho bc no one else has seen one before in real life before until now. 

So yeah we finally moved!! Our new apartment is much better! in the center close to church and everything so that good. The move was quite the experience! Lots of work and still finishing up some stuff. We paid for a mover guy with big truck. he just watched us as we loaded everything in and out! haha but it was good exercise. So we have hot water that works finally! (well we did for a couple days, people in the past didn’t pay lights bill under comp name, so we have to get that cleared up and within the next few days well have lights and warm water again!) I’m excited for our stay in this new apartment. 

Well thought a lot about you guys this week! miss and love all of you like crazy! Thank you so much for all the emails and pictures! This week was good! lots of work and blessings as always. Sorry this email is fairly short! not very fast internet today! But all is well. next p-day is just around the corner. Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Sargent