Coughing, coughing, and more coughing...

Hello everyone! So just to survive this week email I definitely had a week that tried to kill me ha ha just kidding! I had a pretty bad cough this week and is still going strong! But anyways this week went well other than that. So on Tuesday we were able to visit a reference we got from our branch president, supposedly and Pres. picked this man off the street because he was passed out drunk on the street. So we got there and talked about how God can help us with addiction and our problems. We were also able to give him a blessing so that his body can be healed and he can overcome his addictions as long as he’s on the Savior's path. Something I’ve definitely learned on the mission is that if you really want something in your life you have to have a real intent and desire to obtain that goal or objective. And with the help of our Savior anything can be achieved!

On Wednesday we had lunch with the super amazing family that always make the best food! We stayed at their house for a while then left in work in normal day ha ha. It was definitely hot. Something nice about Sao Bento do Sul is that we are at a pretty high altitude so when it’s cloudy is actually cold...well...cool ha ha. I’m glad I’m here to pass the summer because otherwise… I’d melt. ha ha just kidding

On Thursday I got special permission from my president to call Tyler-Ann on her mission and teach a woman named Cecelia in Portuguese! It was super fun and super weird as well ha ha. I was thrown off a little because it was over video and I’ve never done that before but overall it was fun. During the lesson there were some funny moments because I could just die from coughing and would have to have Elder Austyn get my part but I left and got a cup of water ha ha. It was funny and kind of nice because in a normal lesson you can’t just get up and leave the "screen“ while you die from coughing ha ha. You just gotta do it in front of them ha ha. But anyways that was definitely the highlight of that day.

[Here's a video]

Friday we were able to eat dinner at a members house whose name was Cecelia it was so good! Also we were able to talk to some non-members about the gospel and share a little about our beliefs. It was super fun.

On Saturday I woke up late because I was up until 1:30 just coughing it was great! Not! But anyways we had lunch with our relief society president and her family. Then we made contacts pretty much all day and we were able to meet a lot of cool people! The whole branch went to the temple today. I was definitely thinking about hiding out on the bus so I can go as well just kidding! The temple isn’t in our mission. It is did she bail. But since we are in one of the most northern areas of the Michelin you’re super close to the state of Paraná. The temple is in Curatiba, about an hour or two from here. Anyways that was my Saturday.

On Sunday church went well! We had two investigators that a member invited which was super cool. During the second hour of church we had a lesson on how, in this world full of new things and inventions, how can God help us. It went super well and at one point the teacher asked me and Elder Austin to tell everyone in the room that there was 20 Reals [Brazilian money] in one of the desks in the room if someone wanted it they could come and get it. But we said all this in English ha ha. The whole point was that no one understood our English and we can compare that to the Holy Ghost and sometimes tried to listen to him but we can’t understand a lot of what he says because we haven’t practiced enough to hear him. It was an awesome lesson that we need to practice here in the Holy Ghost in our lives. 

After that we ate lunch and made some good contacts on the street. At the end of the day we thought a recent comments named Lou Anna enclosed a week with that. All I can say now is that I know this gospel is true and that even though I’ve been sick the Lord has given me strength and need to continue on in this marvelous work. I’m thankful for all that I have and just want to help others feel the same hope peace and happiness that I feel! 

I love you all and hope you all have a best week. Ever!

Love, Elder Whelan

-Here are pictures of a cat. It was asleep and Elder Austin started piling all of this stuff on the cat to see if it would wake up. It didn't. 

Happy New Year!

Everybody happy new year! 2020!

This year is going to go so well and I’m so excited to see what new experiences I’m going to have on the mission. Time has been flying by for me! I only have 11 months left on the mission. Time flies! But anyways this week was kind of crazy!

Sorry about Monday, I wasn’t able to send an email to the people I wanted to because I had to go to Florianopolis at 4 o’clock! But anyways I’ll just give a rundown of my week! So on Monday we just kind of ran around trying to get everything we wanted done I didn’t have much time to do it all. We got to the house around 1:45 and only had two hours to do everything before we had to get right back on the bus headed to the bus station. We got to the bus station headed out at seven hours later got to Florianopolis! We got there and went straight to sleep at the others house who work in the office. It was nice because the room was air-conditioned!!

The next day we woke up went to the office and got all of Elder Austin’s visa and legal stuff done and hang out with the guys at the office. Two of them are from my group at the CTM! After all that we got on the bus at 3:50 and headed home. Got home around 10:30 again and stayed up until midnight to say yay 2020 then go right to sleep ha ha.

On New Year’s day we ate lunch with our branch president at his house and we ate churrasco (barbecue) played darts and messed around for awhile. It was actually a super chill day. It was funny because he explained to us about how his trip to the USA went and how everything was super awesome to him. Ha ha. He’s a super cool and funny guy.

On Thursday we had a pretty normal day we tried to teach some of the contacts I made before, we weren’t able to reach all of them sadly.

On Friday we taught an investigator named Cassio the 10 Commandments and parts of the law of chastity, the lesson went super well. The plan is to baptism him this Saturday!

Saturday we had lunch with the family from Venezuela and taught a friend of theirs named Javier about the restoration & invited him to be baptized! He accepted, and since he’s already been to church once, he only needs to go one more time to be baptized! After that we taught another two families that want to be baptized as well! That was a crazy day for sure ha ha.

On Sunday since it was the first day of the month we had a small meeting and it was so spiritual. All the Venezuelan family bore their testimonies about the Book of Mormon and I was able to bear my testimony as well. For lunch we ate some lasagna that his sister made for us. We eat at home and left quickly to walk superfast to a reference house name Custodio but he wasn’t there so we taught his daughter instead. After that we made several various contacts in the street and ended the day.

This week flew by for me! And I’m so thankful for all the blessings in my Heavenly Father gives me. Happy new year to everyone and I hope you all have an amazing week this week! I can just say that our weeks, months, and years will be so much better when we choose to follow God‘s path and keep his commandments and love all those around us. I’m thankful for the gospel. I love my family and I love whoever is reading this. Because was one of the most important goals we should have in this life is to love one another.

Love, Elder Whelan