Elder Jacob Pettit
Brazil Salvador South Mission
Rua Lucaia, 295 Sala 202-Bairro Horto Florestal
CEP 40295-130 Salvador-BA
BRAZIL
Sunday, August 23, 2009
We haven't posted in a couple of weeks due to Jacob being transferred up to the mission office. This is his first "real" letter since arriving in Salvador.
Aug 22, 2009
Well, hello again dear family and friends!
Salvador is about as different from the interior of Bahia as you can imagine. Salvador is a good bit bigger, and you might even think at times that you are in the states... except everybody is speaking another language and the style of the houses in the poorer areas. (I'll see if I can grab some pictures some day here soon) I’ve only really worked the area one night though while I've been here, but it was quite a diff. experience. You go out into the streets, lots of cars, people in business attire, street vendors etc. Then turn a corner or two onto a side street, and it just gets narrower and narrower, until its little more than an alleyway (think about 3 feet wide at times maybe even less at others) and houses not only sharing walls, but stacked up three or four stories at times, (maybe even more, its kinda nuts) its kind of a maze, and when we went in there the 1st night, neither Elder R. or I knew exactly where it would take us, we just followed directions from some kids in the street. It’s a whole other world in there.
So why have we only been out once since I’ve been here, because I’ve been called as the new financial secretary, and the secretaries only recently began to have an area to work in. Its a bit of a different work as you might imagine, working in the office, and sometimes I think back to the "good ole tom's days", (especially because the last fin. sec. whose showing me the ropes reminds me a good bit of Kevin, weird huh?) I know the Lord has put me here for good reason, and I’m excited to go forth and do this the best I can. I feel I will learn a lot about responsibility, accountability, and diligence here, not to mention people skills at another level/angle, confidence in the language, a boosted Portuguese vocabulary in the formal and financial end of things and probably a good many other things that I won't notice the Lord has taught me till I’ve learned them. I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day and had a neat little insight given to me, and to explain I’d like to just ask the question, how often have any of you seen Nephi say that he did something with occasional diligence, or with some force/effort? How about any of the other great Book of Mormon prophets? What about the effort required at Christ's hands to complete the expiatory sacrifice for our sins? In the same way, how can we expect to have faith like them, or have true desire to have it, if we aren’t willing to do the Lord's will with "all diligence" or with "all of our heart might mind and strength"? Just some food for thought that makes me think of a scripture in Luke 9:62, "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that he paid the price that we could not, and that we truly need to always seek to do follow God's will, in the name of Jesus Christ, amém.
Love,
Elder Pettit
Aug 22, 2009
Well, hello again dear family and friends!
Salvador is about as different from the interior of Bahia as you can imagine. Salvador is a good bit bigger, and you might even think at times that you are in the states... except everybody is speaking another language and the style of the houses in the poorer areas. (I'll see if I can grab some pictures some day here soon) I’ve only really worked the area one night though while I've been here, but it was quite a diff. experience. You go out into the streets, lots of cars, people in business attire, street vendors etc. Then turn a corner or two onto a side street, and it just gets narrower and narrower, until its little more than an alleyway (think about 3 feet wide at times maybe even less at others) and houses not only sharing walls, but stacked up three or four stories at times, (maybe even more, its kinda nuts) its kind of a maze, and when we went in there the 1st night, neither Elder R. or I knew exactly where it would take us, we just followed directions from some kids in the street. It’s a whole other world in there.
So why have we only been out once since I’ve been here, because I’ve been called as the new financial secretary, and the secretaries only recently began to have an area to work in. Its a bit of a different work as you might imagine, working in the office, and sometimes I think back to the "good ole tom's days", (especially because the last fin. sec. whose showing me the ropes reminds me a good bit of Kevin, weird huh?) I know the Lord has put me here for good reason, and I’m excited to go forth and do this the best I can. I feel I will learn a lot about responsibility, accountability, and diligence here, not to mention people skills at another level/angle, confidence in the language, a boosted Portuguese vocabulary in the formal and financial end of things and probably a good many other things that I won't notice the Lord has taught me till I’ve learned them. I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day and had a neat little insight given to me, and to explain I’d like to just ask the question, how often have any of you seen Nephi say that he did something with occasional diligence, or with some force/effort? How about any of the other great Book of Mormon prophets? What about the effort required at Christ's hands to complete the expiatory sacrifice for our sins? In the same way, how can we expect to have faith like them, or have true desire to have it, if we aren’t willing to do the Lord's will with "all diligence" or with "all of our heart might mind and strength"? Just some food for thought that makes me think of a scripture in Luke 9:62, "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that he paid the price that we could not, and that we truly need to always seek to do follow God's will, in the name of Jesus Christ, amém.
Love,
Elder Pettit
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
July 29, 2009
Transfers came around a bit differently, and instead of getting an email on Saturday round noon, we got a phone call Sunday night, yeah, that makes for some quick packing if you have to leave the next morning. I stayed here in Porto Seguro, and am now companions with Elder S., from São Paulo, I've really been blessed with native speakers on the mission, really grateful for that, it really helps me out.
The work is progressing here as always, Glacia was baptized on Sunday night and will be confirmed this coming Sunday. She is a great woman of faith, and will be a great support to the branch here. Speaking of support in the branch, it’s a whole other animal working in this area where there is a serious lack of communication between the leaders of the various organizations, but we are working on getting a meeting each month with all the leaders starting with this next month. The Mission will also be holding a training meeting here which I hope will help things out. We have an FHE tonight with some of the members, recent converts and investigators which will be a good time , and even better was the fact that we missionaries didn’t have to plan it, we were invited just to bring/invite new members and investigators to it, and to bring some ideas of games to play.
In my studies this week I did a study on studying, (hope you don’t have to study that for too long to figure out I meant what I said and I said what I meant.... this Elder is serious 100 percent) and it was a great spiritual experience and reminder of the importance of really studying with the intent to apply what I learn, and to truly seek to answer questions that I have, and not just let them slide, if one does that he will miss out on many opportunities for growth and learning. I was also reminded to truly seek to be attentive to be attentive to the Lord's promptings in the street, and wherever we may be, to talk with people, no matter how awkward it may seem, they need it to be saved, and we need to share it as well, in accordance to commandment and on the condition of magnifying our callings and covenants as well. It truly is interesting to see how the recent converts, who truly did their part, repented and prayed to k now if the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith have the tendency to spread the gospel, without even thinking about it, and it makes me think of Lehi’s dream as he partook of the fruit, and his immediate desire was to call his family to partake of its goodness as well. Truly as we become more converted, and feel of God’s love through the gift of His son we will grow in our desires to share that love through the sharing of His gospel.
Well, I’d best be going, but I love you all, and know this is the Lord's work, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amém.
Elder Pettit
Transfers came around a bit differently, and instead of getting an email on Saturday round noon, we got a phone call Sunday night, yeah, that makes for some quick packing if you have to leave the next morning. I stayed here in Porto Seguro, and am now companions with Elder S., from São Paulo, I've really been blessed with native speakers on the mission, really grateful for that, it really helps me out.
The work is progressing here as always, Glacia was baptized on Sunday night and will be confirmed this coming Sunday. She is a great woman of faith, and will be a great support to the branch here. Speaking of support in the branch, it’s a whole other animal working in this area where there is a serious lack of communication between the leaders of the various organizations, but we are working on getting a meeting each month with all the leaders starting with this next month. The Mission will also be holding a training meeting here which I hope will help things out. We have an FHE tonight with some of the members, recent converts and investigators which will be a good time , and even better was the fact that we missionaries didn’t have to plan it, we were invited just to bring/invite new members and investigators to it, and to bring some ideas of games to play.
In my studies this week I did a study on studying, (hope you don’t have to study that for too long to figure out I meant what I said and I said what I meant.... this Elder is serious 100 percent) and it was a great spiritual experience and reminder of the importance of really studying with the intent to apply what I learn, and to truly seek to answer questions that I have, and not just let them slide, if one does that he will miss out on many opportunities for growth and learning. I was also reminded to truly seek to be attentive to be attentive to the Lord's promptings in the street, and wherever we may be, to talk with people, no matter how awkward it may seem, they need it to be saved, and we need to share it as well, in accordance to commandment and on the condition of magnifying our callings and covenants as well. It truly is interesting to see how the recent converts, who truly did their part, repented and prayed to k now if the gospel was restored through Joseph Smith have the tendency to spread the gospel, without even thinking about it, and it makes me think of Lehi’s dream as he partook of the fruit, and his immediate desire was to call his family to partake of its goodness as well. Truly as we become more converted, and feel of God’s love through the gift of His son we will grow in our desires to share that love through the sharing of His gospel.
Well, I’d best be going, but I love you all, and know this is the Lord's work, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amém.
Elder Pettit
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
July 22, 2009
Teaching before the mission... well, I think that teaching the youth has helped a bit, but maybe not in the ways I would have thought at the beginning. I think it gave me time to make mistakes before I came here on the mission, so that I might be able to see them and learn from them before I got here on the mission. Something I don’t think I did so well was knowing the doctrine so well as to be able to go through without having to glance at the material etc.
An interesting thing about teaching here on the mission is that in teaching the same general subjects we run the risk of just habitually teaching the same things until we even get to the point of memorized (though not intentionally) ways of teaching. And in this way we become very much like a tape player, hit play and the machine spits out the info. and if we aren’t careful, we can get to the point where we stop giving attention to new questions, examples and ways of explaining from the Spirit that would allow Him to teach more effectively given in the moments. And so it is key to know what you will teach, but also to leave room for the spirit to teach, we don’t actually teach anything, we could spit out all the necessary information, but until the Spirit brings the info to the people's hearts, nothing comes out of it. I've seen this in my own life, as I found I knew a bit about the atonement of Jesus Christ, in my mind I had a comprehension of what happened (Generally speaking) and why it was necessary, but as I’ve studied it a bit more, striving to learn "by study and by faith", the Spirit has taken the truths I had in my mind into my heart, and then they started making more of a difference in my life. I think I didn’t let the Spirit do enough speaking in the class as I taught, far too often, I just gave out information. Also I think I didn’t trust in the Spirit to give the things to teach before the mission, I would worry about freezing up, losing control, or having long pauses as I tried to catch up in my mind where I was teaching etc. but it’s something I learned to stop worrying about, and worry more about the preparation and letting the Spirit guide as the action unfolds. So em fim, I think it gave me time to make mistakes from which I would be able to learn from, and still am for that matter.
Recently I’ve been blessed to recognize some answers to prayer in our work here in Porto Seguro. Ever since the Zone Conference we've had a focus on finding men and families to teach, with the idea of bringing in a "core" of families and potential priesthood leaders here in the center of town. This focus along with our prayers have begun to put out fruits, and this week looking at our investigators we have yet to find a whole family, but we have found some great potential Priesthood leaders. We met a man in the street the other day named Steven who is 40 years old, and looking for the truth, we also had a man the other day who came up and asked us to visit him and his family (have yet to visit him, our appointment is set for tomorrow) and another guy also called us to his shop to speak a bit with us on Monday as well, who we visited last night though he unfortunately seems to be a bit skeptical about the idea of a prophet in our days. Another woman of great faith is going to baptized here on Saturday and her positive influence has gotten her mom and sister and almost brother in law interested along with her nieces, and their support could also help another family in the area we are beginning to reactivate. The Lord truly does bless us when we pray with faith, and act in patient diligence.
I know that Christ lives and loves us, that God is our Heavenly Father, and that this is their church here on the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amém.
Elder Jacob Pettit
Teaching before the mission... well, I think that teaching the youth has helped a bit, but maybe not in the ways I would have thought at the beginning. I think it gave me time to make mistakes before I came here on the mission, so that I might be able to see them and learn from them before I got here on the mission. Something I don’t think I did so well was knowing the doctrine so well as to be able to go through without having to glance at the material etc.
An interesting thing about teaching here on the mission is that in teaching the same general subjects we run the risk of just habitually teaching the same things until we even get to the point of memorized (though not intentionally) ways of teaching. And in this way we become very much like a tape player, hit play and the machine spits out the info. and if we aren’t careful, we can get to the point where we stop giving attention to new questions, examples and ways of explaining from the Spirit that would allow Him to teach more effectively given in the moments. And so it is key to know what you will teach, but also to leave room for the spirit to teach, we don’t actually teach anything, we could spit out all the necessary information, but until the Spirit brings the info to the people's hearts, nothing comes out of it. I've seen this in my own life, as I found I knew a bit about the atonement of Jesus Christ, in my mind I had a comprehension of what happened (Generally speaking) and why it was necessary, but as I’ve studied it a bit more, striving to learn "by study and by faith", the Spirit has taken the truths I had in my mind into my heart, and then they started making more of a difference in my life. I think I didn’t let the Spirit do enough speaking in the class as I taught, far too often, I just gave out information. Also I think I didn’t trust in the Spirit to give the things to teach before the mission, I would worry about freezing up, losing control, or having long pauses as I tried to catch up in my mind where I was teaching etc. but it’s something I learned to stop worrying about, and worry more about the preparation and letting the Spirit guide as the action unfolds. So em fim, I think it gave me time to make mistakes from which I would be able to learn from, and still am for that matter.
Recently I’ve been blessed to recognize some answers to prayer in our work here in Porto Seguro. Ever since the Zone Conference we've had a focus on finding men and families to teach, with the idea of bringing in a "core" of families and potential priesthood leaders here in the center of town. This focus along with our prayers have begun to put out fruits, and this week looking at our investigators we have yet to find a whole family, but we have found some great potential Priesthood leaders. We met a man in the street the other day named Steven who is 40 years old, and looking for the truth, we also had a man the other day who came up and asked us to visit him and his family (have yet to visit him, our appointment is set for tomorrow) and another guy also called us to his shop to speak a bit with us on Monday as well, who we visited last night though he unfortunately seems to be a bit skeptical about the idea of a prophet in our days. Another woman of great faith is going to baptized here on Saturday and her positive influence has gotten her mom and sister and almost brother in law interested along with her nieces, and their support could also help another family in the area we are beginning to reactivate. The Lord truly does bless us when we pray with faith, and act in patient diligence.
I know that Christ lives and loves us, that God is our Heavenly Father, and that this is their church here on the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amém.
Elder Jacob Pettit
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