Transfers!!!

Hey everyone!!! hope everyone had an amazing week!!! mine was definitely crazy, especially Sunday! but anyways the highlight of my week was when an investigator that we have named Cassio just showed up to church. honestly he ́s super close to being baptized so I'm super excited for him! Based on the subject title of this email you all probably know what is happening to me haha I'm getting transferred to Joinville! And my area is called Itaum and I'm going to be the new Zone Leader! 

I'm pretty excited and super ready! its gonna be a little different than im used to but I'll figure it out. I'm going to have to give trainings at zone conference and travel a ton to help other elders if they need help! its honestly going to be awesome and im super excited! My comp Elder Austin is going to be training an elder from Bolivia and he's going to take my spot as district leader. haha he's pretty excited/stressed. But anyways that's honestly it for this week! I'm excited for the change and I know that that's where Heavenly Father put me and I know that he's helping me and everyone who asks for his help have success in this life! I love this Gospel and I know its true and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be a member of the one and only true church of Jesus Christ!!

Love you all!!

Love Elder Whelan

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!!!!

Hello! I got your package a little bit ago, so Awesome! Peanut butter!! Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!! Takis!! I chowed on the KitKats pretty quickly because we can get them here, but I'm taking my time and savoring the Reese's, can't find those here, so good! 

Things here are good, we're working hard, getting along well, finding people to teach. Had a couple investigators show up at church, which was sweet. We get smart phones next week, we're pretty excited about that! 

I miss you all and love you all! Read your scriptures, go to church, help those in need. 

Love,

Elder Whelan

Oiiiiii, Como Vai!!!

Hello everyone. This week was awesome!! So the beginning of the week was kinda dull, nothing crazy happened. But at the end of the week on Friday we had our mission tour. It’s crazy to think about a year ago I had my first mission tour! I have 14 months on the mission now, time flies!

But anyway we had a chartered bus to Florianopolis with like 40-50 missionaries. It was so fun! At the church we had a big lesson/teaching… no... training (that’s what I would say, haha) by Elder Costa who is SUPER awesome! We learned so much about how to be a good example no matter where we are. After the mission tour we slept at the zone leaders’ in Joinville then got home on Saturday at about 12:45. We were dead from so much traveling, haha.

I was able to prepare the rest of my talk for Sunday. Oh, and we are going to receive smart phones the next zone conference!! It’s officially going to happen! But anyways this Sunday I had my talk which went really well. I talked about how we can find joy in sharing the Gospel. I talked about if we hadn’t tried our hardest in the past today is a new day so to get started!! It was awesome and an amazing privilege!

After lunch we made a ton of contacts and met some very strange/interesting people like always. On Sunday we had hamburgers with the Venezuelans and their son cut our hair for free haha, that was cool. But anyways that was my week. Hope everyone is healthy and safe and I love you all!

Love, Elder Whelan

Hello!

Hello everyone!

I know I always say this but this week flew by!! This week went well and me and Elder Austin are getting along better than ever and workin' hard here is Sao Bento do Sul!

So on Tuesday we went to the neighborhood called Brasilia and worked there. One thing about this city is that everything is far away so we have to take a bus everywhere which sucks sometimes. Ha ha. Anyways, one cool thing we found was a cool place to eat dinner! After we ate we got another bus and went to 25 de Julho and taught a recent convert named Yana. She's super cool and wants to serve a mission as well!!

On Wednesday we worked in the neighborhood called Oxford/Cruzeiro and we were able to teach an investigator names Cassio who is so close to baptism!! He just needs to stop drinking coffee and then he can be baptized!! During the day if there were places that sold ice cream we would stop by real quick to buy some ice cream because it's super hot outside. haha But Wednesday went super well and I could definitely feel the guidance of the Spirit as we taught.

On Thursday we got our hair cut by a member because our hair was getting long from not cutting it for a while then we worked in Brasilia again but it started to pour rain outside so we found some shelter and waited it out for a while. :) After that we were able to get some stuff done and had a great rest of the day.

On Friday we had an amazing day!! We ate at Subway for lunch because we didn't have a lunch with a member and then after that we were able to teach some super cool family who I think at first thought we were missionaries from the Catholic church. Ha ha. But it was funny. They said that even when we said the name of the church and taught about the Book of Mormon and taught about Joseph Smith. But anyways, we taught Cassio but he still hasn't let go of coffee. He's killing me! ha ha. But after that we took a little time to find Austin a watch then headed over to Yana's house and taught her about prayer because she said she's been having some problems with prayer like how and when she should. She forgets a lot of stuff. haha

Saturday was a very normal day. We've been having very cold weather here the past three days so that's been AMAZING!! It's been cloudy and rainy but at least I haven't been sweating and dying from the heat. haha.

Sunday went great! So before today the missionaries always blessed the sacrament in the branch so that finally changed, there are priests now!! Two, to be exact. So today was the first time and I was there to help if something went wrong and I was kinda seated by them but a little way so guess what?! I didn't get the sacrament!! haha. They didn't see me and I was so pre-occupied with watching them that I didn't get any bread or water haha. Don't worry, I took the sacrament later after second hour. But after that we ate in our apartment some Top Ramen and grape juice then left to work. We found some cool people and taught a good amount of lessons of the restauration. It was great!!

Another transfer day came but me and Austin are staying in Sao Bento! This transfer is going to be great. I hope you all have an amazing week. Love you all!

Elder Whelan

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

Natal!!

Hey everyone!!

So here's a quick recap of the week for you all! so this week me and Vawdrey were both pretty sick but we continued to work haha we also had a Christmas conference which was awesome and super spiritual! Oh and me and Elder Vawdrey marked a baptismal date for a man named Cassio and he went to church these past two weeks in a row!! I'm super excited for him to get baptized because this area does not baptize a lot and it would definitely make the members more excited to do missionary work!

This past Sunday we got this huge basket of candies and cakes from the members which was super awesome and made us happy hahah. We just found out that the Christmas package my parents sent me is getting sent back from Brazil because it contains "...unknown and unsecured animal products." They were Slim Jims!! So I guess I'll just share my companion's stuff until my parents can send mine back (minus Slim Jims of course) probably by the end of  next month or so. The Brazilian mail system is kinda whacked.

Today on p-day we played sports with some of the youth and I got a little bit sunburned but my comp got wrecked hahah he's so red right now. hahaha anyways this week is Christmas and I'm super excited for this time of the year because the people think more of Jesus Christ and it helps us teach them his importance! 

I'm excited for Christmas and hope all of you have an amazing Christmas as well!!!!!

Love,

Elder Whelan