Tuesday, November 19, 2019

E ai?!

Tudo bem?!

How’s everybody doing! Hope you all had an amazing week! I for sure did ha ha. This past week was definitely hard work at its best! We have been working a ton with Cristiano and now he’s ready ha ha. I had to ask some serious questions to him to see if he wanted to be baptized for real and he’s sure he wants to be baptized! But anyways let’s talk about the week and what happened!

So on Tuesday we had a district meeting which was great! We talked about how Jesus Christ paid for all of the lessons, experiences, and things of our ancestors and the people in the future will have. And we compare this to how our moms paid for all of our lessons like piano, paid for our mistakes and errors. And the question was asked "how do you show our gratitude for what she paid for?" We have to practice and get better to show our gratitude.

The same with Jesus Christ. He paid for every lesson in a life, every feeling, error, mistake that we can never experience. And the question is how can we show our gratitude for what he did for me and you? That’s something I’d like you all to ask yourselves though. How can you show your gratitude to the Savior for what he did for you?

Anyway after the district conference we had lunch with the family that lived in the US for three years so we had fun talking to them a little bit about home. After lunch we did some contacting and then talked some people and that was my Tuesday. Ha ha.

On Wednesday we had a pretty event full day! We tried to references that we got in a neighborhood called Flor de Napolis but they ended up not working out sadly. After that we did a good amount of contacting we found a man named Mourilio. He was super cool and listens to the whole lesson. After Maurilio we taught some recent converts and a last lesson to the investigators then we headed home.

On Thursday we had a day of just rain rain and more rain ha ha. We had to run through the middle of the street sometimes because both sides are flooded. It was awesome and my favorite part was my fun shoes ha ha not! But it happens ha ha. My shoes are not waterproof anymore and they are definitely starting to fall apart ha ha. But it’s all good! At least they’re broken and comfortable. Anyways we tried a lot of people but nothing seemed to work out that day, just it’s all part of the job!

On Friday we had a very motivating day actually. So there was an activity that the church is having in another area here and we aren’t allowed to leave our area without permission so we just stayed home and... [Editor’s note: Dalton sent picts of his handwritten letter but this pict didn’t download so there’s a gap in the story. Feel free to fill in your own version...]
... so we had church which was great and after church we were talking with some members and two people came up to us, Simone and Jorge, wanting Jorge to get baptized Saturday so we are going to reteach all the lessons to him and baptize him as well if everything works out!!

Anyways we ate a super good lunch and after lunch we taught a recent convert we baptized and ran over to a members house to eat even more food ha ha. Then we left and tried to teach Jorge but he wasn’t home. I guess he was doing something with a member or something. After that we went to Christian's house. Taught a quick lesson and headed home. And that was Monday. Something else and that happened there was a brother dropped off this huge platter of sushi out of nowhere. Sushi is super expensive here so we were super surprised and happy ha ha.

But anyways this is going to be another epic week and I hope you all have some happiness the same happiness I have! Hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you for all your emails and support! Especially for my awesome family! I know the families are forever and that this His the one and only church on the face of the planet. 

Love, Elder Whelan




























Friday, November 15, 2019

Oi Tudo Mundo!!


Oi tudo mundo!!! 

This is Elder Whelan! this week went by super fast and was super fun! me and my comp Elder Burden have been having a ton of fun but having a ton of rejection as well. There have been several lessons that have fallen through and some people just don't accept us. But its all part of the job haha we are happy and doing the Lord's works so all's good in the hood. 

Don't have much time to email but I sent a ton of pictures of my comp, my area, and this super sweet pitbull at a members house. Hope you all have an amazing week and I love you all!!!!! 

~Elder Whelan

[Editor's note: Elder Whelan shared a ton of photos with us, but by time I got around to requesting access from him, he was no longer online, so those pictures will all be in the next email.]

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Happy Halloween!


 Happy Halloween everyone!!

So this week we have been working a ton!!!!!! Me and Elder Burden have been having a great time clapping houses and walking in the rain hahaha so we weren't able to have the baptism of Cristian this past week but this week it's going to happen for sure!! my new companion is called Elder Burden and he's from Arizona and he ́s super awesome!!! This week I've been helping him with the language a lot because he just got to brazil like a week ago haha But it just goes to show that the gift of tongues is so real and that through small words and acts great things can be done!!! 

I love this gospel so much!! Also! this week there was Halloween and to say in the simplest terms nothing really happened haha they don't celebrate Halloween that much here and there was only a few people trick or treating outside, and there was no decorations or anything haha but oh well i was a little upset but at least there wasn't a ton of people out on the streets except us hahaha I like to think of it as we were clapping houses to give people the sweetest candy there is, the candy of the gospel! sorry about that, probably didn't make sense but I thought it would be funny to say. normally people say no to us so it looks like people in some areas here don't like candy haha but no matter how many people say no, it just adds more fuel to the fire to find someone who is willing to listen and change for the better. I know this church is true, we have a prophet who´s name is Russell M. Nelson and he is receiving revelations and words of god everyday to guide the world in these latter days! I love you all and thank you all for your support and love. I hope all of your weeks have been going good and full of happiness!!


Love Elder Whelan

PS: my companion is flexing his spiritual muscles hahaha


Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Training


Helloooo! 

So this week was awesome! we had a lot of great teaching experiences and we are now officially baptizing Cristian this week!! Cristian has been taught for more than three years and i have the opportunity to finally baptize him!! I'm super excited for this baptism and the fact that after all this time everyone in this family is going to be baptized!! I have seen the change that the gospel has done in this family so much over the past four and a half months. Oh and by the way my companion got transferred to a place called Navegantes and I'm going to be training!!!! a new elder named Elder Burden haha hopefully he's not too much of a burden but I can for sure handle training. 

I'm super excited and ready to help him learn and teach this amazing gospel! Anyways I'm super close to several baptisms and I'm going to let my new comp do the baptism this weekend so he can say he got straight to the field and baptized someone haha. 

But anyways everyone! miss you all so much! loving it here, and I love my savior, and this gospel!! Hope you all have an amazing week and love you all!!!!


Elder Whelan

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Email and picts

Hey everyone!! 

This week went well but was a little sad for me. so we had a baptismal date set for Christian and in the end we decided he wasn't ready so we are going to work a little bit more with him so that he can be better prepared! But other than that this past week went by super fast and fun! transfers are coming up this weekend so I'm ready for transfers haha i love my comp and my area and the people here but sometimes you feel like you've talked with everyone already and that there's nothing left for you in the area (which isn't even true haha) . I'm kinda feeling like that right now. Elder Saavedra has been here for 6 months so he's even more ready than I am to leave haha But anyways me and Saavedra are doing really good, we are working hard and super happy haha just lovin the mission life!!! 

I just want to bear my testimony really quickly that I know this church is true, that Jesus Christ lives and this is his gospel. I know that we have a prophet who lives and guide God's church and children. I know that through repentance and the gospel of Jesus Christ we can be clean of our sins, and live in peace, and happiness. I know that families can be forever! I hope you all have an amazing week and I love you all!!!!!


Elder Whelan









Friday, October 18, 2019

Weekly Email


We have a baptismal date for Christian. It's so exciting seeing someone recognize God in their life and want to become a member of our Savior's church. I'm grateful I've been able to come here to Brazil and that I was blessed to pick up the language so quickly too. My mom said she found a paper in my closet from when I was a lot younger listing out some things I wanted to accomplish in my life (short and long term goals). I don't remember writing it but I'm not surprised I did. I wrote I wanted to learn Portuguese and used to learn words from my Pops (Dad) who also served in Brazil. She said it was really touching to her that Heavenly Father heard the desires of a boy and gave him his wishes when he chose to serve Him years later as a young man.
        Often we do receive answers to our hopes and desires but sometimes it's years later. It's important for us to communicate and have a relationship with our Father in Heaven that is our own because He really listens and hears our joy, our frustrations, our pleas, and helps turn our righteous desires into blessings for us and for others.
        I don't have much time left to write today. We have to use an Internet cafe and we pay for our time. We were blessed by a member who gave us a gift of time to talk with our parents by paying for our usage at the cafe. We have so many tender mercies daily as Heavenly Father's children. So often we are wrapped up in our lives that we don't recognize those things. But as missionaries who are trying to teach the gospel, we are blessed to see them every day and to recognize them more than we would have before we put on our name tags and committed our lives to Him.

I love my family. I love my Savior. I love the people of Brazil and those people who have loved the heck out of me growing up because they helped get me here. Have an amazing week!

Love, 
Elder Whelan

Monday, October 7, 2019

General Conference

Hi Everyone!

I don't have time to write an email today, but I'll send some pictures from this past week! We had some hard times trying to take some pictures and they all didn't turn out very well, hahaha. We definitely hope you all like them!

I loved general conference.

Happy Birthdays, Grandma Delores and Grandma Barbara!!

-Elder Whelan