Oi Familia!
There's a visitors centor for the Gilbert temple! Thats awesome! You guys should definately send pictures of the progression of the temple. That would be way cool.
The first picture is me and my new companion traveling back to Ijui. His name is Elder Soares, he´s from Rio de Janeiro (the cool city that has the giant Christ statue). He seems to be a great guy. While going through the training, teaching him is going to teach me alot. I´ve grown more in the last couple days than I have in my whole mission. I´ve been trying to be the best example possible to Elder Soares as possible. My president told us in training for the trainers that this the most important leadership position in a mission. Because everything you do and teach will be what he does and teaches the rest of his mission.
This was a great Sunday! We only had 2 investigators there but alot more members came than normal. There were about 80 and normally there is like 50 or 60. That was really exciting for me. It really shows the importance of good leadership. Our ward hasn´t had a bishop for a while but they recently called a new one and it´s really turning everything around.
The second picture is my tie.....it died. haha It was surprisingly realy hard to burn. It melted but it still counts I think. The tradition goes-
6 months on the mission: burn a tie
1 year: burn a shirt
1and a half: pants
2 years: Suit
(I heard the one of the apostles did this on his mission. haha)
Things are going great and I´m working hard. I can´t wait to hear from everybody there!
The church is true!
Love Elder Rollins
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
October 11, 2011
Oi familia!!
Bah! Things sound pretty crazy over there in the US. This week was crazy and a little crazy. I have two stories of stuff that happened yesterday.
Our investigator who was the closet to baptism (Isabell) didn´t come to church. We were really bummed and we were talking about this to one of the ward members (an old bishop). We were saying how she didn´t go to church and he asked her name. We told him and he just kind of stopped. He looked at us with a little confusion and said," Elders.....she has already been baptized. She has been a member for about 20 years now." He said that and we didn´t really believe him. So we had the stake secretary check on the church computer for us. Lo and behold HE BROUGHT UP THE BAPTISMAL RECORD OF ISABELL! I could just see my mission president in the next interview. "Elder, you cannot baptize the members." haha I´m still in unbelief. We have been teaching her for about 2 months and she said she wasn´t baptized! The stuff we´ve been teaching her was completely new to her! So i´m still not exactly sure what we are going to do, but whatever happens will defiantly be interesting. haha
The other story is really crazy also. I think i saw john the beloved or one of the 3 nephites! haha We were just sitting there in sacrament meeting on night. and two young men walked in and sat down. (they were probably like 25 years old). About 15 minutes later they got up and left. I said to Elder Biaggio "Lets go talk to them!". We ran out the chapel and they seriously disappeared. We weren´t that far behind them but they were just gone! But than we noticed one man standing in front of the church with his dog. We thought well lets talk to this guy at least. We brought him in the church and we taught him a watered down version of the Restoration. It was great he was extremely interested and he said he always wanted to know something like this. We took his adress and gave him a book of mormon with a commitment to read it. Unfortunately, the address wasn´t in our area. We called the other elders in our district to pass the address to them that night. When we called them we just heard an loud voice of Elder A. Santos," A gente encontrou um elieto na rua!" (we found an elect in the road). After the man went home with his dog he found the other elders in front of his house just walking down the street! He invited them in and they taught him the Restoration more in depth. The man (Luiz) said , with his wife, that they were going to study and pray. (and be baptized:)
THE 3 NEPHITES EXIST!!! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS COINCIDENCES!
If we didn´t try to follow those two guys we never would have found him.
Com muito amor
Elder Rollins
Bah! Things sound pretty crazy over there in the US. This week was crazy and a little crazy. I have two stories of stuff that happened yesterday.
Our investigator who was the closet to baptism (Isabell) didn´t come to church. We were really bummed and we were talking about this to one of the ward members (an old bishop). We were saying how she didn´t go to church and he asked her name. We told him and he just kind of stopped. He looked at us with a little confusion and said," Elders.....she has already been baptized. She has been a member for about 20 years now." He said that and we didn´t really believe him. So we had the stake secretary check on the church computer for us. Lo and behold HE BROUGHT UP THE BAPTISMAL RECORD OF ISABELL! I could just see my mission president in the next interview. "Elder, you cannot baptize the members." haha I´m still in unbelief. We have been teaching her for about 2 months and she said she wasn´t baptized! The stuff we´ve been teaching her was completely new to her! So i´m still not exactly sure what we are going to do, but whatever happens will defiantly be interesting. haha
The other story is really crazy also. I think i saw john the beloved or one of the 3 nephites! haha We were just sitting there in sacrament meeting on night. and two young men walked in and sat down. (they were probably like 25 years old). About 15 minutes later they got up and left. I said to Elder Biaggio "Lets go talk to them!". We ran out the chapel and they seriously disappeared. We weren´t that far behind them but they were just gone! But than we noticed one man standing in front of the church with his dog. We thought well lets talk to this guy at least. We brought him in the church and we taught him a watered down version of the Restoration. It was great he was extremely interested and he said he always wanted to know something like this. We took his adress and gave him a book of mormon with a commitment to read it. Unfortunately, the address wasn´t in our area. We called the other elders in our district to pass the address to them that night. When we called them we just heard an loud voice of Elder A. Santos," A gente encontrou um elieto na rua!" (we found an elect in the road). After the man went home with his dog he found the other elders in front of his house just walking down the street! He invited them in and they taught him the Restoration more in depth. The man (Luiz) said , with his wife, that they were going to study and pray. (and be baptized:)
THE 3 NEPHITES EXIST!!! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS COINCIDENCES!
If we didn´t try to follow those two guys we never would have found him.
Com muito amor
Elder Rollins
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
October 3, 2011
Oi familia! Tudo bem!
How was the cabin? It sounds like it was a fun time. General coference was way cool. I really like the talk by Elder Holland. There was other great talks too. What were all of your favorite talks? I watched it with a bunch of americans. It was really wierd, for a while it felt like we were in the united states. It was funny to see that it´s already october 3! It about 2 weeks ill make 6 months on the mission! It´s crazy I just felt like I left! Elder Dossena (One of my old companions) came up from a different city to watch conference with us.
This week we made 2 other baptismal dates for the 15th of october. I hope it works out. We just have to get them to go to church. One is polacka, she is a reference from another member. She is a great investigator and wanted to be baptized in the evangelic church before we came. The timing and conditions are perfect for her. The other one was a 23 year old named Vaugner. He´s a really cool guy and he likes to play soccer (not that this is uncommon or anything haha). He takes the lessons and the spirit very seriously.
The church is growing fast, but it could grow faster. The difference i`ve learned is the members. This week my challenge is to do something to help the missionaries.
I love all of you and hope that all is well!
Com amor,
Elder Rollins
How was the cabin? It sounds like it was a fun time. General coference was way cool. I really like the talk by Elder Holland. There was other great talks too. What were all of your favorite talks? I watched it with a bunch of americans. It was really wierd, for a while it felt like we were in the united states. It was funny to see that it´s already october 3! It about 2 weeks ill make 6 months on the mission! It´s crazy I just felt like I left! Elder Dossena (One of my old companions) came up from a different city to watch conference with us.
This week we made 2 other baptismal dates for the 15th of october. I hope it works out. We just have to get them to go to church. One is polacka, she is a reference from another member. She is a great investigator and wanted to be baptized in the evangelic church before we came. The timing and conditions are perfect for her. The other one was a 23 year old named Vaugner. He´s a really cool guy and he likes to play soccer (not that this is uncommon or anything haha). He takes the lessons and the spirit very seriously.
The church is growing fast, but it could grow faster. The difference i`ve learned is the members. This week my challenge is to do something to help the missionaries.
I love all of you and hope that all is well!
Com amor,
Elder Rollins
Sunday, October 2, 2011
September 26, 2011
This week has been really good. Right now I am Santa Maria which has been really cool. We´re going back to Ijui tonight. We had a zone conference this week and recieved some instruction from Presidente Ribeiro. He talked alot about faith, and how we need faith in our work. October 15! this date is our next baptism day!!!! Our goal is to have 5 baptisms for this day. BUT we need your prayers!! We have some investigators that have potential, but we defiantly need to find some more ELECTS. If we could get the whole family to pray for these two specific numbers I think it would help a ton. The Elders who were in the last photo were top: Elder Forastiero (A brazilian from São Paulo I have been living with the last couple months. He´s really cool.) and Bottom: Elder Anderson (who was my companion in the Provo mtc. He is also serving in the same district as me right now.) In the bottom photo you´ll also notice that we are wearing two very stylish soccer shirts;) To understand Rio Grande Do Sul (the state i´m serving in) you have to understand these two soccer teams. The Red is Internacional and the blue is Gremino. They´re two soccer teams here in the south based in Porte Alegre. The rivalry is HUGE. It makes utah and byu look like little cute puppies playing in a field. haha
One of our investigators is named Isabell. She is the lady we have been teaching for a while. We´re trying to prepare her for the 15th. She believes everything and accepts all the invitations, but like alot of people, doesn´t have the greatest sense of commitment. This has been our major struggle with alot of people here. Specifically getting people to go to church. Luckily this week we have the big guns. The one......the only.......GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!WHEW!!!YA!!! I´ve never been so excited for general conference in my life. One thing we teach to people in the 1st or 2nd visit is about prophets. I always knew that we had a prophet, but at the same time, I never realized what that meant. WE HAVE A FREAKING PROPHET!!! This is going to be a very special weekend and a great opportunity to prepare people for baptism. This last week I talked to the ward and challenged everybody to bring at least one friend to at least one session of general conference. So We will have to see how that works out. In the Book of Mormon we read about prophets (or seers) as someone that knows "All that we must know in the past, and in the future". Everything that we need to know or anything that would really help in our lifes will be spoken of this weekend. It´s like having a newspaper with the most cutting edge stories and information, but from God. I´m really excited to hear our prophet this next week, AND I can´t wait to hear about all of your thoughts about it too.
All is well (Tudo Bem)
If they´re family they can email! and please do!
Something cool just happened. An Elder next to me right now (Elder Asbahr) just got an email from his family. His dad who isn´t a member decided that the Gospel is the right path to take and finally wants to join the Church!!!!!What a blessing right?! way cool
Package was great I liked evrything!
in the next one i need maybe a zip drive, more food;) maybe if you could food seal some taco bell haha jk, i would like a couple more ties, calender with important dates to remember (I think i might be missing someones birthday. I think there was one in August but I don't know!!!! Sorry if I missed something!) A photo album with photos of family, friends and other cool stuff. More information about other christian religions (the book is awesome I really like it, but it wasn´t very specific in the christian religions. maybe just Internet articles giving really basic doctrine. Not that i want to bible bash with anyone, but it would be nice to know. haha) and maybe a CD player with speakers would be awesome too. with some more efy and church music. (I think it will be secure, all the missionaries i´ve talked to never had a problem.)
Muito obrigadão :)
Com muito Amor
Elder Rollins
ps. Now i only have 3 minutes to email the president! AHH
One of our investigators is named Isabell. She is the lady we have been teaching for a while. We´re trying to prepare her for the 15th. She believes everything and accepts all the invitations, but like alot of people, doesn´t have the greatest sense of commitment. This has been our major struggle with alot of people here. Specifically getting people to go to church. Luckily this week we have the big guns. The one......the only.......GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!WHEW!!!YA!!! I´ve never been so excited for general conference in my life. One thing we teach to people in the 1st or 2nd visit is about prophets. I always knew that we had a prophet, but at the same time, I never realized what that meant. WE HAVE A FREAKING PROPHET!!! This is going to be a very special weekend and a great opportunity to prepare people for baptism. This last week I talked to the ward and challenged everybody to bring at least one friend to at least one session of general conference. So We will have to see how that works out. In the Book of Mormon we read about prophets (or seers) as someone that knows "All that we must know in the past, and in the future". Everything that we need to know or anything that would really help in our lifes will be spoken of this weekend. It´s like having a newspaper with the most cutting edge stories and information, but from God. I´m really excited to hear our prophet this next week, AND I can´t wait to hear about all of your thoughts about it too.
All is well (Tudo Bem)
If they´re family they can email! and please do!
Something cool just happened. An Elder next to me right now (Elder Asbahr) just got an email from his family. His dad who isn´t a member decided that the Gospel is the right path to take and finally wants to join the Church!!!!!What a blessing right?! way cool
Package was great I liked evrything!
in the next one i need maybe a zip drive, more food;) maybe if you could food seal some taco bell haha jk, i would like a couple more ties, calender with important dates to remember (I think i might be missing someones birthday. I think there was one in August but I don't know!!!! Sorry if I missed something!) A photo album with photos of family, friends and other cool stuff. More information about other christian religions (the book is awesome I really like it, but it wasn´t very specific in the christian religions. maybe just Internet articles giving really basic doctrine. Not that i want to bible bash with anyone, but it would be nice to know. haha) and maybe a CD player with speakers would be awesome too. with some more efy and church music. (I think it will be secure, all the missionaries i´ve talked to never had a problem.)
Muito obrigadão :)
Com muito Amor
Elder Rollins
ps. Now i only have 3 minutes to email the president! AHH
September 19, 2011
Oi familia!
This last week was crazy! I got my package! And i got sick.... but i´m feeling better now it´s alright. Today we played soccer in the rain. It was awesome! It was 21 to 19 (I lost) but it was one of the coolest things i´ve done in a while. We have a new Elder named Elder Kelly living in our house. He´s from Everett, Washington. He seems to be cool, and I think it´s going to help alot having an american in the house. This week we are going to have another zone conference here in Ijui. We going to talk about october 15. The mission is planning a big baptism day for every area. I think it´s going to be really cool. I have to get back to work ;( we didnt have alot of time this week. Thanks for the package! it was awesome! The funny thing is the dictionary you guys sent me is the same on I already have! haha Until next week!
Com Amor,
Elder Rollins
This last week was crazy! I got my package! And i got sick.... but i´m feeling better now it´s alright. Today we played soccer in the rain. It was awesome! It was 21 to 19 (I lost) but it was one of the coolest things i´ve done in a while. We have a new Elder named Elder Kelly living in our house. He´s from Everett, Washington. He seems to be cool, and I think it´s going to help alot having an american in the house. This week we are going to have another zone conference here in Ijui. We going to talk about october 15. The mission is planning a big baptism day for every area. I think it´s going to be really cool. I have to get back to work ;( we didnt have alot of time this week. Thanks for the package! it was awesome! The funny thing is the dictionary you guys sent me is the same on I already have! haha Until next week!
Com Amor,
Elder Rollins
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