April 2, 2012

Hey mom!!
Haha as soon as we got here, everyone was talking about how
they thought Pres. Torgan would be called to a calling in the 70 or something
like that. It was funny cuz everyone was sitting here making guesses and stuff.
made me chuckle. WE did get to watch some of conference, but not all. We got to
watch some of it in English, all of prieshood session, and some of the other
sessions as well. in order for this to make sense, i'll have to explain the
situation here. (ps all of the English words are underlined in red here cuz
this keyboard is Portuguese! hahaha:)
Anyways, I’m in a city called Figueira de Foz. It's in the
middle part of the country right on the coast. It's super pretty! today we're
at a internet cafe and it's the first time I could actually see the ocean. It’s
super pretty. So here in Figueira there is a tiny little branch with like 25
active members. I've been able to meet some of them, and they're really nice.
We have a really nice church building, but it doesn't have a projector, so they
couldn't project conference. They were trying to rent a bus to drive the
members to Coimbra to watch it there, but the branch president didn't want to
spend the money. So we were trying to get investigators and members to watch
conference, but only some of them have internet and only some of them have
laptops and the branch just isn't really unified here. It's rough. But tonight
we're having an FHE with a bunch of recent converts and a couple investigators
to try and build the unity back up. plus also, not many people here have been
through the temple, and to be honest, not a ton of them (according to my
companion) are very interested in the temple. which is super sad, because we
won't get one here, until the people are ready for it. triste....so we’re
trying to help with that tonight. we're gonna talk about the blessings of the
temple at FHE tonight.

So....Elder Weiss is my companion. He's form Arizona, I
forget which part exactly, but he's from there. He's only got 2 more transfers
left, so he's a tad bit trunky and has told me that I have to keep him focused.
ahhhh....rough. I like him though. We get along fine. He's not exactly what I
was expecting, but nothing here has been what I’ve expected! :) I think I’m
bugging him a little because I’m only the 2nd person he's trained and I’m going
way harder than his last greeny so ya know. To be completely honest, he kind of
likes to waste time. It's been a little rough, because i don't know exactly how
we're supposed to do stuff, especially the actual training program, but I’m
trying my hardest to figure it out. I’m learning a lot, but idk....maybe I’m too hard on him. And this week has been nuts too. He says it's usually not this crazy so we'll see. Hopefully things
start smoothing out.
So we spend a lot of time at a part member home. The girl is an 18 year old member who was baptized a year ago, and now here mom and soon to be step dad want to be baptized. They are great people. super super nice. The man is married to another woman in Brazil but has another daughter who is super cute, with the mom. So we've been trying to hook them up with a lawyer in
Brazil that can help them get a divorce, so they can be married, and so they
can then be baptized. It's been fun. I think we've found somebody who can help
though. They feed us like every day and that's ok. Then there's another couple.
The man was baptized a week and 2 days ago and is doing really well. He's going
to receive the priesthood this coming Sunday. I really like him a lot. And his
wife isn't a member, so we've been over there a couple times too. She really
doesn't have an interest in the church because she had a problem with her
family and a different church when she was really little, so she doesn't want
to join. And the man won't really say much. He wants her to be a member really
bad, but doesn't want to pressure her. It's a rough situation. But they watched
conference together so hopefully that helped. We’re hopefully gonna go talk to
them in a day or two. They live in Vila Verde, which is like a 45 min to an
hour walk. yes we walk everywhere, no I don’t have a blister, but the bottom of
my feet hurt cuz of the cobblestone :) haha :) So that's kind of the situation
there. She's not really interested, but I’ve been praying that her heart will
be softened so she can feel the spirit. She said she didn't feel anything at
her husband’s baptism....super sad. Anyway, that's kind of the skinny there.
As far as food goes....boy, I’m not in America anymore right?? hahah but it's been good. I’ve
had fried bananas (which ROCK) and I’ve had chicken hearts, and oysters, and
clams, and more chicken rice and bread then I’ve seen in my entire life!! haha
:) all of it is good. Chicken hearts are goofy. They don’t' taste bad, just
kinda rubbery and I can't really think about what it is that I’m eating. haha
:) but yeah they keep us well fed--sometimes too well.
We have a TON of inactives, and they mentioned that a lot in
conference, so we might work with them a little. We'll see. I want to. I want
to make sure there's an awesome base for the investigators to come to chruch
and see how incredible it is!
So CRAZY story. We were walking back to another appointment,
and this guy comes out and is like "ELDERS!" so we're like ok....this
is cool!! yeah it was weird. This guy comes and starts talking to us, asking us
for blankets cuz he's sleeping without any. so we're talking to him and
whatnot, and he's like smoking hard core and stuff, so he finishes his
cigarette, maybe it was weed, idk, but then he tells us that he needs the
blankets cuz he's the apostle Paul. He grabs my hand, starts speakin Portuguese
that I really can't understand. Elder Weiss is on the phone trying to find some
blankets so I’m kind of alone right? So this guy puts his hands on my head and
starts murmuring some things. Then when he's done says "do you feel
better?" I was like what??? Then he was like, do you "have any
coins?" coins?? "Do you have any coins for the blessing?" I was
confused. By this time Elder Weiss comes back, and he tells the guy we don't
have any money, and then we go find him blankets. We give him the blankets then
leave. Basically, this guy just gave me a blessing because he thinks he's the
apostle Paul and then wanted me to pay him for it.....man it was goofy. I
didn't like it at all. So then on our way to our next appointment, I stopped
elder Weiss and told him I didn't feel the spirit at all and we cannot go
anywhere without it. So we stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and I pleaded
with Heavenly Father to forgive us of our faults and to bless us with the
spirit. Mom I can't even tell you how incredible it was to feel the spirit
again. Oh my goodness. It's so real and such a blessing and Heavenly Father
cares. And He'll help you through anything!
So that's portugal! haha :)
So it turns out i can understand some stuff. Elder Wiess,
and the members say I’m doing pretty well. Idk...it's super hard to understand.
I can usually express myself ok. I need to work a TON but I can express my thoughts
usually, but understanding the natives is super hard. But I am doing better. I
pray every day for the gift of tongues, but even more now for the gift of
interpretation of tongues!!! haha :)
Love,
Elder Jordan Brady
Note from Jeri Kay: I've corrected some of his spelling and grammar, but I think it's hilarious that he writes the way he speaks! So I've left some of the mess in the blog for personality sake. I also learned the hard way with Stephanie, that it's not always great to include investigator's names. So I've taken out the names of Elder Brady's investigators. I promise, though, that they have names and can use faith and prayers in their behalf! (hint, hint :))