tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10648658459636713272024-03-05T18:53:03.596-08:00Elder Mark Jolstead in Santa Maria BrazilMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-16922170156966195272013-03-28T13:52:00.002-07:002013-03-28T13:52:42.245-07:00March 28, 2013Oí Família!
Hallealuh!!! Some one won the pinewood derby!!! hahaha That´s cool though. Funny that it took 8 sons and over 20 years to get it right. haha Oh and I didn´t know that we were fancy now. That´s a fanzy water purifier. haha That´s good that there are families are coming back to church. Its sad that I didn´t even know the inactive families when I was at home. I coud´ve helped a little better to bring some back to the gospel. Jared is dating? Wow things are changing! haha So things are going good. I´m still kickin´ Unfortunately the family that we are working with now, didn´t go to church again. urgh That´s one of the most frustrating things as a missionary. But We´ll see why they didn´t come here in a couple of days. My compánion is doing well, but he´s constantly reminding me that I´m going home and telling me how much he´ll miss me when I´m gone. haha He´s a good guy. It has to be hard to be a new missionary being trained by one going home. well anyway that´s it. Happy Easter! Funny that I´ll miss 3 easters...I never thought that could be possible, but oh well. As long as there are chocolate bunnies waiting for me. :) So I only have one more email to send here in the mission so you should tell everyone to take advantage of that and send me an email just to say that they sent me an email while I was on my mission. haha Have a great week! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-63370767727282158092013-03-28T13:51:00.003-07:002013-03-28T13:51:42.836-07:00March 23, 2013Oí Família!
My week was good. Yep they got baptized! I´ll send you a pic. That´s cool about Riley. São Paulo is a good mission too. The church is strongest there than in any other part of Brasil. We had a lidership conference based on that talk by Elder Bednar. Its really good. There really is a big difference between Conversion and a testimony. Conversion is like a testimony in action. So my week was good because of the baptism, but unfortunately we cut a lot of investigators because they wern´t progressing. So we´re almost starting over from scratch, but its good. This will help me stay focused for my last 3 weeks. There is a family that we´re working with that needs to get married first, which means that I won´t be here to see them baptized. Oh well, as long as they get baptized. That´s what matters. So unfortunately Presidnent lowered our time to send emails to 40 minutes so I don´t have a lot of time. I´ll be home here soon so I think you´ll understand. haha have a good week! love you
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-71454557702487657992013-02-18T09:06:00.000-08:002013-02-18T09:06:02.418-08:00February 18, 2013Oí familiia!
Don´t Mother I knew you didn´t forget me. haha Shantewa told me that Kaylee was going to São Paulo. Maybe she meant the MTC. She´s going to the ´´Zion of Brasil.`` Fortaleza is where the work is booming. There are missionaries baptize more than 200 during there whole mission there. Not that numbers matter, but just to give you an idea of how the work is growing there. I remembered Mikey´s Birthday but I forgot to say Happy Birthday in my email. But while I´m on the topic of birthdays...Happy Birthday Mother!!! ´´One year older and wiser too...`` haha I hope you have a great b-day! Well my week was alright. We´re teaching a family that studied with the Jehovah´s Witness. They´re a good family and they´ll be baptized here soon I hope. I hope they´re married, because if they´re not, I won´t be here for the baptism. :( But they went to church for the first time yesterday and it looked like the liked it. I didn´t have time to ask them about it after, but they both were crying at many points during the various meetings. Thank goodness no one said anything stupid. That´s one of the biggest fears of a missionary. A lot of times the members are the stumbling block for investigators, but they also are the key to helping investigators. They´re like nuclear energy. They could be used for a lot of good but they also can cause great destruction. haha It´s good that they talked about missionary work at church, because its something that I feel that gets neglected a lot, but that is one of the most important topics in the church. Well that´s about it. Have a great week and a great Birthday! Love you
Elder Jolstead the Older Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-64000888653603438442013-02-02T10:12:00.003-08:002013-02-02T10:12:41.496-08:00January 18, 2013Hey my Family!
Jaren put his papers in again?! That´s awesome! I´m super happy for him. Do you know where he will go? or do you have to wait again to find out? That´s to bad that he can´t come back here, because I found out that I´m going to be transfered and that I´m going to train my last 2 transfers. If he back here I could been able to train him. That would have been cool. Do you know when he said he´d be eligible to leave? Do you think he´ll still be home when I get home? I guess you can´t really know that right now. So anway I´m going to be transfered this week! And I´ll be a trainer! I loved training so that´ll be awesome to do that again. I´m pretty sure that I´ll be called to a city called Santo Ângelo, because President told me that it was there that he was thinking of sending me. I´m going to have to open an area and train and be District leader all at the same time, but I´m way excited. This will an awesome experience for me to grow. Its sad to leave here because I´ve been here so long, but I think its good to move on. So anyway we also have a baptism for tomorrow. So anyway how´s everyone doing? That´s good that Kelleene is doing better, though, but also bad about Derek. It hurts to land on your tailbone. I did that once when I flew off a sled going down a hill near Robbie´s house. Speaking of Robbie, I heard he came back already. That´s pretty crazy. That went by fast. Well that´s just how time goes. Too fast for you to keep up with some times. I guess that´s why its a good feeling to think that eternity is forever. Things may not last too long here, but things have no end after this life. That´s always a comforting thought. So anyway that´s about it. Give a high five or a ´´good job`` or something for Jaren, because I´m really excited for him. Oh and you could say ´´hi`` to Robbie for me too. hahaha Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the OlderMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-15469486064868358632013-02-02T10:11:00.002-08:002013-02-02T10:11:53.446-08:00Jan. 11, 2013Hey Family!
So I´m here in Santo Ângelo! The city is a ton smaller than Santa Maria but the people are less busy too so its easier to talk to them. My companion´s name is Elder Penha. He´s from Recife in Panambuco. He´s a cool guy. He´s very eager to work so that´s good. Right now I´m getting to know the area because we´re opening it. I don´t know anyone, but things are going good. The members here are really excited for missionary work. I think this is the strongest branch I´ve worked in. They have usually have about 130 or 140 members that come to church. (that´s very strong here in the south of brasil). So yeah I heard about the fire in Santa Maria. I worked really close to that area. I hope no one that I knew was in there. How did you all here about it? Was it on the news? Oh and yes I got my package. i forgot to say thank you. That hot sauce was really good. ( I already used all of them haha) I liked the guy who did the splits too. haha That´s terrible about Cody. When do you think he´ll be able to go now? You can tell Robbie that I´m excited to see him too, but don´t worry Mother, I don´t have time to get trunky. There´s too much to do. Anyway Have a great week. I love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the OlderMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-54645456983880272502013-01-19T17:56:00.003-08:002013-01-19T17:56:46.758-08:00January 13 2013Hey my Family!
I´m going to be transfered this week! And I´ll be a trainer! I loved training so that´ll be awesome to do that again. I´m pretty sure that I´ll be called to a city called Santo Ângelo, because President told me that it was there that he was thinking of sending me. I´m going to have to open an area and train and be District leader all at the same time, but I´m way excited. This will an awesome experience for me to grow. Its sad to leave here because I´ve been here so long, but I think its good to move on. So anyway we also have a baptism for tomorrow. So anyway how´s everyone doing? That´s good that Kelleene is doing better, though, but also bad about Derek. It hurts to land on your tailbone. I did that once when I flew off a sled going down a hill near Robbie´s house. Speaking of Robbie, I heard he came back already. That´s pretty crazy. That went by fast. Well that´s just how time goes. Too fast for you to keep up with some times. I guess that´s why its a good feeling to think that eternity is forever. Things may not last too long here, but things have no end after this life. That´s always a comforting thought. So anyway that´s about it. Give a high five or a ´´good job`` or something for Jaren, because I´m really excited for him. Oh and you could say ´´hi`` to Robbie for me too. hahaha Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the OlderMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-82680767966049494002013-01-19T17:56:00.000-08:002013-01-19T17:56:01.648-08:00December 29, 2012Oí Família!
How´s everyone doing? The play looked like it was good...a little strange (Jared looks like he came straight out of a Tim-Burton-with-Johnny-Depp-as-the-lead-role movie! hahaha) but good all the same! What is Nathan though? Is he a tootsie roll? You guys really went out this year with the costumes and props. That is crazy that Elder Bise/ Robbie is going home! My first companion as assistant is also going home now. He had six months when I worked with him. So is Kelleene really doing better? She looks really skinny in that picture with everyone together. So anyway my week was alright. We had a leadership training this week for the Zone Leaders. The day before we also had a family night at the President´s house. That´s always cool to go to President´s house. Especially when pizza is involved. Oh and I don´t think I told you already or not about the pizza here. Do you remember when we looked up stuff about my mission before I came? Remember how it said that they have the best pizza in the world or something? Whoever said that lied. haha The pizza is alright but its nothing special. I think it was a gaúcho who said that on the internet. They usually brag about everything they have. haha So anyway, the work is going a ton better. This next week we´re going to baptize a woman and one kid. The kid, Rafael, is a member´s brother and the woman, Fabula, is a friend of that one couple that we baptized in September. Oh and I also will be able to go to Uruguaiana on Friday to baptize the father of a family that we baptized there a year ago. He wasn´t ready then but now he is and he asked if I could go there and baptize him. It will be an awesome experience to see that family again and be able to complete the family in the church. In a year they´ll be able to get sealed in the temple! Its those kinds of things that really make me feel that I really made a difference in these 2 years. Well anyway that´s about it. I found out now that we´re going to eat at the President´s house for lunch today. That´s always nice. Sister Ribeiro cooks really well. :) Anyway I got to go. Have a great week. Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead the Younger Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-24353703127474979642013-01-19T17:24:00.001-08:002013-01-19T17:24:31.172-08:00December 22, 2012Olã Minha Família,
That´s sad that not many people came. It was probably because they went to the one last year and saw that I wasn´t in it and knew that I wouldn´t be in this one either. hahaha and they saw that Jared came back to be in it haha Just kidding. So its final. President said that he talked to Salt Lake and unfortunately I can´t stay one more. I think its because with the new age limit there are a ton of new missionaries coming. Oh well I´ll have to settle with the time I was called to serve ´´for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me... why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?`` So this week was pretty good. Me and my companion are having a lot more success. We marked 2 baptismal dates for this next week and the week after. The new scripture of motivation for me this last transfer has been Mormon 9. Our Heavenly Father really is a God of miracles and will always be a God of Miracles to those who have faith suffient and work hard enough to make the miracles happen.The Lord really has been helping us this last week. We´re on the look out for a whole family though. I´m thinking that president is thinking about letting me die as the assistant. haha It wouldn´t be that bad and I guess it would be alright.... I´d get to take myself to the veil. haha Anyway that´s about it. Have a great week! Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the OlderMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-10632397752420923522012-12-15T12:09:00.001-08:002012-12-15T12:09:57.414-08:00December 15, 2012 Oí família!
So sounds like things are going good with the exception of Shantewa. I knew that it was only a matter of time...hehe I´m kidding of course. I know how it feels to hit someone´s car. At least she slid. I practically used father´s car as a battering ram haha. As you can tell I don´t feel to beat up about that now. But I still don´t trust myself to drive. Sister Ribeiro tried to get me to drive 2 times already. I have to say it was tempting. The Hi lux of the President is a pretty nice car. haha But I really don´t think that that would be such a good idea. So things have been going better this week. After all the traveling got done we actually got to work a little and we´ve had a lot more success. The Lord really compensates for the time we lose doing assistant stuff. This Elder that I have been working with these last 3 days that my companion has been traveling with President had a pretty good idea to find new investigators. There´s this military station near our apartment and out of no where he wanted to go in and talk with one of the leaders there about teaching the soldiers that live there. So we went in and talked to this sergeant guy and he said he´d have to talk to his superiors first but then we could call to find out if we could. He was pretty cool about it so I think we might be able to pull it off. It would be really good because there are a ton of missionary-age men there. Here in the south they have to serve one year in the military at 18 years old so there´s hundred´s of future missionaries in there. So that was cool. Oh and I found out that you can record General Conference for personal use. It says so in the Church Handbook. I read it today. :) That probably would have been better to know before we taped over all the conference tapes that we have. So its been pretty hot here. I was hoping that maybe it would be like last year where it was actually pretty cold here. Oh and today I got a letter from Brother Claypool. I don´t know who that is so I´m guessing that they´re new members in our ward. Thank them for their letter for me. So I don´t know if they´ll let me stay another transfer yet. President hasn´t said anything. He just said that he would ask Salt Lake. Hopefully they´ll let me, because some how word got out that you could stay longer and its becoming a fad to ask president to stay longer. :( I hope this doesn´t ruin my chances. So yeah that´s about it. So what time will I be able to talk to you guys on either skype or on the phone for Christmas? It´s a good thing that its not on Sunday this year, that way we don´t have to plan around church. Think I ´ll try to use the computer here in the mission office, but I don´t know yet. Anyway that´s about it. Have a great week everyone! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Younger
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-35446120965588000352012-12-07T12:21:00.001-08:002012-12-07T12:21:35.884-08:00December 7, 2012Hellooooo Family!
So, unfortunately we haven´t taught that much more, but we have found some good people to teach. We´ll see what happens in the weeks to come. Its looking like Christmas here too. haha There´s lots of lights here in Santa Maria and this last Monday Santa came to the military base next to our apartment! haha I have to say that was pretty interesting. Especially the tanks with the Christmas lights on them. haha The only thing that doesn´t really feel like Christmas is the lack of snow and the 100 degree weather, but... other than that it seems like Christmas. So anyway, things are going alright here. We´re working hard. This next week is transfers. That same routine again for the 5th time now. Transfers, picking up the newbies and trainings are very normal to me now. The first time was exciting, but now I kind of look at it as time that I can´t use to work in my area. That´s just part though. Anyway so things are good. So that´s about it. Have a great week. Love you guys.
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-72311926657905872592012-11-30T10:32:00.003-08:002012-11-30T10:32:46.629-08:00November 30, 2012Querida Família,
How´s everyone doing? How´s the new diet going? Have you been able to go without sugar? ( I say as a eat a cookie. hehehe) That picture I drew was of my old companion and his fiance. I drew it for his birthday. I can´t believe its Christmas already too. I came in the office today and it was all decorated. I think it was Sister Ribeiro how decorated. So my week has been very enlightening. I´ve been very frustrated these last couple of weeks, because it seems like out of no where the work in my area just stopped, and I can´t figure out why. But, at the same time its been good. I´ve realized how blessed I´ve been these last couple months. The Lord has been helping us so much. We have had a lot of success. I was getting a accustomed to the ease of it all and the Lord doesn´t let us stay comfortable for too long. He can´t, because that is the exact opposite of the purpose of His plan for us. We need to keep progressing and so the Lord, I think, felt like I needed to grow a little more. And let me tell you He really did a good job. These last weeks I´ve really seen how much I have to do better and where I really need to change. Its exactly how that scripture in Ether says: He will show us our weaknesses so that we can change them and with His help we and make them strengths. I´ve really had to stop this week and really think about what I´m doing here. We´re literally helping the Heavenly Father´s children came back to Him. Why should that be an easy process? It wasn't easy for our Savior. Why would it be any easier for us? So in a way my week was very good. I still have a lot to learn. But I really am grateful for the opportunity to serve; during the goods times and the hard times. There is nothing better to be here on the mission, serving the Lord. Well anyway that´s about it. Have a great week everyone! Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-49641590319763326012012-11-23T13:07:00.001-08:002012-11-23T13:07:53.176-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-22154771759398197962012-11-23T12:53:00.001-08:002012-11-23T12:53:16.738-08:00November 23, 2012Oí Minha Família!
How´s everyone doing? Happy Thanksgiving! I think I´ll celebrate by making clover rolls. You found a Jumanji Game? Was it fun? No animals appeared? haha That must have been terrible for that drummer. Poor guy. Those kinds of things seemed to happen to me everytime I played at the school. I think out of all the times I played at the school 2 times I didn´t have trouble with the bass drum sliding away. haha That´s good that the missionaries back home are having success. Unfortunately we´re not having too much success right now, but that´s just part of being on a mission. Sometimes you do good and other times you don´t. If it was all good everyday you wouldn´t learn or grow and there would be no point. We just need to keep working and the Lord will help us out. So yeah nothing very notable happened this week. Just work like normal. Have a great week though! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-60567888330118307482012-11-17T15:33:00.001-08:002012-11-17T15:33:38.928-08:00November 17, 2012Hey Family!
How´s everyone doing? Sounds like the regular winter fun. Driving in the snow is not something I´m looking forward to when I get back. So yes I can email Joshua. Last week I didn´t get a chance because of a trip that we had to do to see how a missionary was that burned himself with hot oil. It wasn´t that bad though. When I first heard about it though, my firat thought was two-face from the Dark Knight. haha Don´t worry too much about the packages Mother, I´m doing alright. Just send them when you´re able. I´ve been trying to eat better too. Instead of rice and beans I´ve been trying to eat beans and rice. haha No but really I´ve been trying to eat less, because now how its so hot here, if you eat a lot you don´t feel to good later. I´ve lost weight I think. So my week was alright. I still haven´t had a full working week this transfer. We had another training for the leaders yesterday. But with the time we have been working we have been walking a ton. We´re trying to update the members´ list for our ward, so we basically walk from one side of the street to the other looking for the addresses on the list. It would be easier if the addresses here were in order and didn´t jump from 30 to 589 at the house after it. haha We hope the Lord will bless us with an incomplete family as we do the ward´s job of cleaning up the members´ list. At this point we basically have no real investigators. We´ve cut and baptized them all, so we´re back to doing the fun part which is finding new investigators. Anyway that´s all that happened this week. I hope you all have a great week! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-29078390977009528722012-11-09T09:59:00.001-08:002012-11-09T09:59:14.875-08:00Oí família!
How is everyone doing? So yes I heard about Obama and also about our state legalizing gay marriage and marajuana. The scriptures say that the world will get worse before it gets better so this is just a fulfillment of that. Oh well. We live in the world but we´re not of the world. Our example and us sharing the gospel, can influence others and make a difference in the world where we are. Little by little we can fight against wickedness in the world. Well Anyway, this week was good. We went traveling with President. Its always cool to do that. You get to learn a lot talking with him. Unfortunately all our ´´Golden`` investigators decided to go on vacation and not come back. haha Oh well it just proves that they aren´t the ones who we need to help with the gospel at this time. We´ve been praying and fasting to find an entire family and we know the Lord will bless us with a family, its just a matter of time and work on our part. Well that´s about it for now. Have a great week! Love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-48509554464073541812012-11-03T18:28:00.002-07:002012-11-03T18:28:41.993-07:00November 3, 2012Oí família,
Oh! how I love Halloween! Yes, I carved a Pumpkin! I´ll have to send you guys photos next week. The Brazilians thought is was cool, because I think they´ve never seen a Jack-o´-lanturn with a real pumpkin. Our play did have a good turn out...of members... Well I guess you can´t always get what you want. haha It was good though, and very spiritual. I´ll be honest to hear that Kelleene is sick again was a bit of a shock, but like you said the Lord uses our life to test and try us to make us into the people he wants us to be. She´ll be alright though. The Lord will be with her every step of the way. Well anyway my week was alright. I have a new companion...well actually he´s the same companion that I had in Livramento, before I became assistant. Round 2! His name is Elder Morrison and he´s actually from Tacoma, so that´s cool. We went to Porto Alegre this week to get the new missionaries and then we gave trainings all week. So unfortunately we didn´t have a lot of time to work this week and next week will be about the same because we´ll travel all over the mission to do Zone Conferences. Its cool though. I like to see all the missionaries in the mission. Anyway that´s about it. Have a great week! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-77957936176858892712012-10-26T11:08:00.001-07:002012-10-26T11:08:36.830-07:00October 26, 2012Oí Família!
Wow the play sounds like it´ll be pretty funny! The fact that Shantewa will a sugar plum made me laugh. haha The train ride looked like it was very cool. It reminded me of the fall weather. Unfortunately here, its getting hot again. :( I got one of your letters today. I can´t believe that Marissa is getting married! Its crazy how life continues without you there. So I think today I will buy a pumpkin to carve too. Will see what happens though because finding a pumpkin big enough to carve here is a challenge. So anyway this week was ok. We were blessed to find a family this week. A young couple that are legally married (that is always difficult to find). They accepted to be baptized this next month. So this is my last week with Elder A Santos. I don´t have any idea who will be my next companion, but I think I´ll find out today. Then comes the usual transfers next week. I´ll go to Porto Alegre with the dead and bring back the newbies. Then the usual trainings for the next 2 weeks. I´m wondering if I´ll stay here for another transfer after this one. I like the idea. This area is very good. Its just hard to find new investigators. Well tthat´s about it. Happy Anniversary! Have a great week! Love you guys
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-61180961374972822932012-10-23T10:59:00.000-07:002012-10-23T10:59:03.467-07:00October 18, 2012Oí,
How´s everyone doing? Have you guys decorated the house for Halloween yet? I think we´ll cut a Jack-ó-Lanturn this year. Last year I just ate a piece of candy haha So yeah Joshua sent me an email. Sounds like he´s having a great time. The MTC is awesome. He´ll love it there. Did he say anything about having a companion? It was pretty weird at the beginning having some one follow you around. haha That train ride sounds like it should be cool. So anyway, my week was pretty normal. We´ve been having a lot of success these days that I´ve almost forgotten how it feels when no one is progressing and you need to find new investigators,.... these last couple of days I´ve been starting to remember how that is. So yeah that´s what I´ve been doing these last couple of days: Searching for new investigators. Its good though, because if we always had success and never failure we´d never learn and never have to trust in the Lord for help. So its good that he´s testing us a little. Oh and we´re doing an activity in the ward: Night of the Theater. Every organization will present a short play or skit and we missionaries are doing a play of the First Vision. Its been pretty fun. It reminded me a lot of our Christmas plays. (especially when Elder Hormazbal, our director is trying to talk and everyone is just goofing around. haha) The practices we have here are almost exactly the same. One Elder will out of no where make a joke or do something funny and this the others will tell him to knock it off and then the next minute another missionary does another stupid joke or something. haha Its just like home in the Christmas plays. hahaha The activity is tomorrow night. It should be good and I hope that the members bring non-members, because if they don´t it will be a big waste of time. Anyway that´s all I did this week. I do have another thing to add for the whole family. Something that I don´t think to many members realize. When some one new comes to church its a big thing for them and they´re in a world completely different than they´re used to, that´s why we as members need to reach out to them and make friends with them. One of the most frustrating things as a missonary is working with members. Sometimes it seems that the members here drive away converts faster than we can baptize them. Its like we open the door to the church and they just leave through the back door. Sorry but it something that´s been frustrating me for along time. Members need to be a lot more aware of new converts and also willing to help them and be friends with them, if not the church will never grow the way the Lord wants it too. The members need to be involved in missionary work. Anyway, have a great week! love you guys!
Elder Jolstead the Older
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-50721603811140068142012-10-12T15:36:00.001-07:002012-10-12T15:36:22.818-07:00October 12, 2012Oí Família!
Well...I guess I´ll have to be Elder Jolstead the older now. I´m glad he left smiling because its so much worse when everyone is bawling. hahaha I loved conference! The announcement about the age of missionaries is awesome! They´ll be so many more missionaries now! I loved the talk by Elder Holland. That wasn´t the first time I heard that talk. He gave one similar to the missonaries in the MTC awhile ago. Its something very important because there´s so many fubeca returned missionaries. I don´t understand how so one who supposedly served an honorable mission could come back and act like nothing happened and that they served their missions and that´s the end, you´re finished and you can go back to who you were before. That talk was very powerful. I also liked Elder Bednar´s talk and President Monson´s talk in the Preisthood session. Unfortunately these days I´ve been very tired so some of the sessions I missed a little because I fell asleep. :( I was very put out afterwards. This week I had a great opportunity. I was able to go to Uruguaiana and see some of my converts there. I was able to talk to one family there and I have to say that was one of the happiest moments of my life. The mom has a calling in the relief society and is very strong in the church. Her daughter is also very strong and is attending seminary everyday. The whole family reads the Book of Mormon everyday and prays before every meal and before they go to bed. The difference that I saw in the mom was incredible. I remember that she was always stressed about some very terrible things that were happening in her life, but now she was so peaceful and happy. So anyway it was very awesome to see the change the gospel has made in their lives. I think the feeling that I felt is the feeling that only comes to those who have the priviledge to share the gospel with others and see the happiness that they feel. That is why it is so important that we share the gospel. For the salvation of others as well as our own happiness we need to share the gospel with others. Unfortunately I didn´t get to see the whole family because the kids were at school and the dad was at work. It was very cool to get to walk where I walked 6 months ago. The funny thing is that it was about a year ago when I was transfered there. Anyway, here in our area we are teaching this woman who is practically converted to the gospel already, can´t get baptised because her husband decided that now he doesn´t want to marry her. Now that they already have three kids. So this week we´ve been praying a lot for her and her family and this week we´ll fast especially for her and her husband. Last time our prayer and fast stopped a baby from coming, I´m certain the Lord will answer us again and soften the heart of her husband so that she can be baptized. Oh and today we got to eat at the President´s house at lunch. It was very cool. I always love talking to President and Sister Ribeiro. Anyway, that´s about it. Have a great week everyone!!! love you guys
Elder Jolstead the OlderMarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-34751696712845159642012-10-05T13:20:00.002-07:002012-10-05T13:20:14.764-07:00October 5, 2012Oí Família!!
Well I have to say that when I saw these pictures I couldn´t believe my eyes! Derek looks like they took Joshua, cut off his head and took dereks head and put on Joshua´s body! hahaha Don´t tell them that I said that, though. :) Looks like you guys had fun at Silverwood. Oh and I hadn´t realized that Krystine had come home to see Joshua go through the temple, that´s why I didn´t understand when you said that there were 5 Jolsteads there. Oh and mother you look a lot slimmer. Not that you weren´t slim before, but you look a lot slimmer. :) That is very sad about Kurtis. He´s fine though right? I mean with the sickness that he caught. That is one of the risks that we have here. But its not as bad as you think. And even more important is that even if the food could give us some disease the Lord won´t let that happen unless its suppose to and its for our good. The Lord wouldn´t have let Kurtis get sick if it wasn´t what was suppose to happen and what the Lord wanted to happen. It is sad though. I forgot to tell you that a missionary came home here in Santa Maria who knew Kurtis in the mission. An Elder Hammer I think. Anyway this week was very different. The President sent us both, me and my companion to work with 2 different companionships of Zone Leaders. So basically we left our area with no one working here for 2 days. Something interesting is that the President said that if we did this we shouldn´t worry about our area here because the Lord would bless us. So we left Tuesday. I stayed here in Santa Maria to help the ZL´s here. It was a pretty awesome experience. The first day it was raining a lot and they had the whole day planed. We prayed before left asking the Lord to help us find a family too. Then at one point after lunch one of the elders lost his planner and with it all the addresses of the people that we´d visit that day. So we were a little sad about that so we said a prayer and asked the Lord to help us find his planner. Then we searched for a long time and decided to just let it go for now and try to find new investigators. So we spent most of the afternoon doing that. Then at night we were walking and we saw a woman walking with her daughter with a ton of grocieres in the rain. So we went up to her and offered help and gave her our umbrella. So we walked with her to her house and we talked with her about her family. She has 8 children and she said that she going to a church but doesn´t like it anymore because of all the ridiculous rules that they have there and how she is looking for a church to join. Well you can guess how happy we were: 8 children, looking for a new church to join; we knew from the beginning that this family was prepared to hear the gospel. So we arrived at her house and we taught the Restoration and at the end we invited them to be baptized and they accepted and when we invited them come to church she looked at her husband and said, ´´I don´t know about you but I´m going this Sunday.`` So anyway if you think that this experience is cool guess what happened after we left their house...We found the planner that had been lost with all those addresses. Something that I realized after was that all this was so that we could find that family, because if that Elder hadn´t have lost his planner we would have gone to all these other plans and we never would have found that family and even cooler was the fact that the Lord answered both prayers: Find a family and find the planner. Everything worked out perfectly, just how the Lord wanted it. And even better was when we came back to our area to work yesterday, the Lord really did bless me and my companion like the president said. We found 3 people who were also prepared to hear the gospel and were able to teach more lessons then we usually can in one day. We taught them and they accepted to baptized as well. So anyway that was a cool experience. If we´re obedient and do our part the Lord will do his part and everything will work out, even when we aren´t able to see how it could work out as perfectly as it does. That´s what Moroni means when he talks about the trial of our faith. That´s crazy that Joshua is leaving this week. He shouldn´t worry though the MTC is awesome. He´d better learn to like it too because he´ll be there for 3 months haha. Anyway so I´m excited about conference. It´ll give me that extra boost. So anyway that´s about it. We should be having another baptism here soon. The problem is we need to marry her first and that´s proving to be a lot harder then it should be. It seems like there´s everything going against her and we haven´t been able to start the marriage process yet, but today we´ll try again. Have a great week. love you guys
Elder Jolstead Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-40918588975174616472012-09-28T10:24:00.003-07:002012-09-28T10:24:47.929-07:00September 28, 2012Oí minha família amada!
So how´s everyone doing? Back in school now? Can you believe its almost October? I think we´ll buy a pumpkin and carve it for Halloween. haha The only problem is that the pumkins here are small and green. :) It´ll have to do I guess. I´m also excited for General Conference. Its like two days of trainings from the apostles and the Prophet. That´s good that Derek is doing better in football. That´s cool about everyone in the temple too. But wait who went? I only counted 5 people. Imiss the temple. If it´s possible I want to go there before I´m released as a misionary. I don´t know if that´ll work out but I think it would great to go before they suck the ´´missionary power`` from me. haha So this week was Zone conference week again. My companion traveled with President this time though. I got to stay in our area with another companionship that works in our same ward. It was good, but nothing really special happened this week. The Zone conference was good though. (like always) Our President talked about faith as a principle of power. It was very good. He also talked about the Book of Mormon and how we should use it in the work. So not much else happened. Right now we don´t have to many investigators, but we do have this woman who we are helping to get married. She´s the daughter of one of our recent converts (Joelma who was baptized in August) Little by little we hope to baptize her whole family, because there´s still 3 others who haven´t been baptized yet. In think one is coming around, but still don´t understand what´s stopping her because she always participates in our lessons. She just doesn´t come to church. Oh well everyone has their time. You can´t force conversion; it doesn´t work that way. So yeah that´s about it. Have an awesome week. Love you guys
Elder Jolstead
Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-50375112253568870522012-09-28T10:21:00.000-07:002012-09-28T10:21:29.324-07:00Oí Família!
I can´t believe that Joshua will be going in teh next 3 weeks. That went by really fast. I hope he´s ready. So I got your letter and well yes I did get a little dizzy reading it. haha That´s very sad about the Cornelius family. I´m going to miss Bro. Cornelius. Say good bye to them for me ok? So you can probably tell by the fotos that the couple was baptized! Jeferson and Elenita were baptized last Friday and she had her baby tuesday. It may seem weird to you that we prayed and fasted so that the baby wouldn´t be born until after the baptism but the Lord answered our prayer. So this last week it was that same running around that happens every transfer. We went to Porto Alegre again to drop off the dead and pick up the new missionaries. Something unique about this time is that I took my ´´Father`` to the airport. My trainer finally died. (He´s been dieing for a long time now haha) There were a ton of new missionaries, it reminded me of when I came here. My group had about 22 missionaries that arrived. So this transfer will be my last with my companion, Elder A. Santos :( . President already told him he´d be transfered after this one. It´ll be sad, but that´s the way of the mission. No one stays with you forever. Oh and we ate at Subway again today. Oh so I don´t know when you guys will send another package, (probably Christmas right?) But could you send me more eye solution, because the solution I have will expire in November. I didn´t know that eye solution expired but I guess it does. :) Oh and also some scar medicine. I don´t know why but about 2 months ago 2 zits appeared on my nose and for some reason they left scars. ( I didn´t do anything to them too, just washed my face with soap) So anyway it would be great if you could send me some medicine to get rid of scars because they left some pretty long scars on my face. So anyway have a great week everyone! Love you guys.
Elder Jolstead
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Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-29019553832131896522012-09-14T16:28:00.000-07:002012-09-14T16:30:21.399-07:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheuplYm-PmWsR48nMjhcHN7zW0E1608oxiPYiJuk3IDCvaX5NHpWDj15k5Pp2Axbd-slwis7IewYt6p1RL58rWSs1dFg-MHFeElopdzQkn015Dcti2sDDQBrxID6GbWhCLLAhptmRi6O1V/s1600/mark+mission+Sept-8.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheuplYm-PmWsR48nMjhcHN7zW0E1608oxiPYiJuk3IDCvaX5NHpWDj15k5Pp2Axbd-slwis7IewYt6p1RL58rWSs1dFg-MHFeElopdzQkn015Dcti2sDDQBrxID6GbWhCLLAhptmRi6O1V/s320/mark+mission+Sept-8.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5788178845214536226" /></a><br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-91202801116749990842012-09-14T09:45:00.001-07:002012-09-14T09:45:45.871-07:00September 14, 2012Oí!<br />How´s school going? You ate beets? You know the first time in my life that I ate beets was here in the mission. They´re alright but I have to say that I was a little scared the day after when I used the bathroom. :) If you didn´t understand what I meant, that´s ok. haha Tell Derek not to worry about being on JV. He just needs to work harder and practice more and he will be moved up. So I don´t think I´ve gotten fat, but I think I´ve gotten bigger. When I left I weighed 175lbs. Now I weigh about 190lbs. 15lbs is quite a bit. I think Joshua shouldn´t worry about staying skinny on the mission. :) So the baby hasn´t been born yet! And they´ll be baptized tonight! I´m still praying very hard, but it seems until now that the Lord has answered our prayer and our fast! hahaha So this week has been ok. I got a little sick tuesday, but I´m good now. Today we did a deep cleaning of our apartment. With 4 missionaries it gets pretty messy (especially when the other companionship doesn´t wash there dishes>:( ) So about 3 weeks ago a sister from the ward gave us the leftovers from the lunch we had there and for these passed weeks its been sitting in the refrigerator...well today I was the lucky one (or really the only one willing) to clean the fridge. Its not that we let things rot in the fridge. My companion and I have very little time to do anything p-days so until now we haven´t been able to clean a lot, the other companionship has had time to clean... Anyway so we cleaned our apartment and now its a lot cleaner (and it smells better too) So another transfer will start next monday. The same routine again. I like it though. You learn a lot at the Zone Conferences and all the trainings that we need to do every transfer. The work is going well though. The hard thing about this area is that its extremely hard to find new investigators, but this is also a blessing, because those who we find are the Lord´s elect: those who are prepared by the Lord and who understand our message and are willing to follow the gospel. We do have to walk a lot though, because it takes awhile to find these people:)Well anyway that´s it for this week. Love you guys!<br />Elder Jolstead <br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1064865845963671327.post-25061100289046063402012-09-07T15:29:00.000-07:002012-09-07T15:30:13.674-07:00September 7, 2012Olã!<br />How´s everyone doing now that there back in school? That´s cool about Joshua practicing with the missionaries. That´ll help him a lot. He has only 5 weeks! Time seems to be flying by! That is awesome about the foreign exchange student. I can imagine how excited Jared is to speak portuguese with her. Ask her what part she´s from because my companion is from São Paulo, in the capital in Interlagos. Maybe she´s from there, but it would be very hard if she knows him because the city of São Paulo is huge. So anyway that´s cool. So this week was alright. It´s getting pretty hot here. And because the city is surrounded by hills its like a pan here. The air is really heavy. Its terrible. :) So today we played basketball with the bishop and some members. Its been awhile and I´m out of shape so I felt like I was dieing haha. We´re going to start playing Mondays and Thursdays really early in the morning to get in shape. The first week will be rough but after that I´ll be used to it. So this next week we will have another baptism of a couple, if all goes well. She´s pregnant and she already passed the due date :( It should be anytime now. If its born normal we´re all good, but if its a C section.... well she´ll be baptized in October. Our fast last week and our daily prayers are asking the Lord to hold that baby until after the baptism! hahaha I hope I have faith enough to delay that baby from coming. haha Anyway so that´s about it for me. Have a great week. I love you guys<br />Elder Jolstead<br /><br />Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18331762680016596560noreply@blogger.com0