English versus Portuguese

I would like to start off by saying thank you so much for the support. You have really helped me a ton to calm down a little bit with all the letters. I still have a long way to go, and I get frustrated every now and again because of language etc. But I will get over it I guess. The lessons are going great and getting better, but sometimes I go totally blank because my English fights with my Portuguese which is never a good thing. We normally teach like 26 lessons a week still. That is always a good thing. The investigators are great! They are really starting to love the lessons. One has totally stopped everything almost and is almost ready for baptism. She did a ton of things – crack, smoked tons. She loves to read the Book of Mormon and reads it every day.

We have so many great investigators right now. I am so happy and cannot wait till the next baptism. We had one this past week, and the little girl chose me to get in the water and baptize her. She is ten years old and reminds me a lot of Melissa. I love that little girl, and she is very intelligent for her age. Another good thing is that her brother is the one that told us about her. Her mom and dad are not baptized but they are next. That feeling of baptizing her and then confirming her was so great. It didn’t hit me till a little bit after the baptism how great it was. She gave me a short little note on Sunday. I will put it in Portuguese and then translate. Elder Daniel Parkinson: Eu agradeço por você e o Elder Machado ter me ensinado muita coisas legal e boa, e eu Niyara Jade faço está cartinha para você em nome de Jesus Cristo amém. Sua grande amiga Niyara Jade Longo Rebeiro. English now. Elder Daniel Parkinson: I am grateful for you and Elder Machado to have taught me many things cool and good. And I, Niyara Jade, make this small letter for you in the name of Jesus Christ amen. Your Great Friend Niyara Jade Longo Rebeiro.

The food here is really good. We have good meals every day. I miss having a good dinner and breakfast but that is ok. I have yogurt and fruit every morning and sometimes a sandwich at night. The lunches are amazing. Also tomatoes are starting to grow on me. They always have them in the salad, and I felt bad always taking them out so I starting to eat them. At first I didn’t like them one bit but now I can handle them. Another great thing! My first companion is in my district which is great! Every week we see each other and get to talk English. The language is going alright. I get really frustrated sometimes when I can’t say what I want. I feel like an idiot. But I hope they understand through the spirit. I really love this gospel so much, and I really just want to be able to talk to them. I sometimes break down and cry in our house about the language or thinking about family. When I can’t talk, I think a ton about back home. family, friends etc., but I guess I will make it through. I can almost understand all things now!

Dogs are always in the street barking. If I was not a missionary I would probably be dead right now. I miss the family a ton so keep praying for me to have the courage and the strength to push forward. I want you to know that I am fine, the Lord has really taken care of me, and every time I feel bad and then pray, He comforts me. I know this is the true gospel with all my heart. He answers prayers. I love the book of Mormon so much -- I love reading it every morning and feeling the power that comes from it. Well, I got to go. May God always be with you. Try your hardest to be worthy to have it with you.

Reports from the Mission Field

Now that Daniel is actually serving in an area, his time is limited. As people write to Daniel, he tries to answer them on a personal basis. But, he is sending me a "mission update" each week that I will try to get on the blog for everyone. So, I'll be doing several of them today cause I've gotten behind. Daniel is of the "text generation" so I have to do a little editorial work before posting them.

So here's his first one:

For three days straight, it has rained. Let’s just say you multiply the most rain we have ever gotten in Idaho by two, and that is what it was like for three days straight. Our house started to leak all over and flood. But we pushed through it. I prayed to have the water stop leaking because I knew the rain wasn’t stopping and after that, the water wasn’t so bad in the house. I know that Heavenly Father loves and answers our prayers. Oh and my backpack is rain proof for a little but not for a long time. So it soaked everything in my backpack. Not good but I dried it. Also I had to buy an umbrella. I got a small one that I could put in my backpack. It didn’t work -- too small for rain here so I had to get a big one -- pretty frustrated about that.

So I am in America as far as clothes and music go. Everyone listens to American music even though they have no clue what is going on. They all know about Michael Jackson and ask me regularly about him. I also know why they are good at soccer here. They learn balance from the buses -- they are insane. And the hills give them leg strength -- I feel like I am always going uphill. We had huge spiders in our apartment but I killed them. The ward is amazing, and I love them. My comp is strange but I’m getting used to him. He has a great testimony and strength when he teaches. I took some worm meds we got at our zone conference we have to take them every six weeks. They give you diarrhea to get all the creatures out of you. Great….

I gave my first blessing in Portuguese a day ago. It was great but really hard. I still felt the spirit. I am doing a baptism for a little girl this week. She chose me! She is ten. We also have two others with her that are getting baptized and five scheduled for next week. We will see if these ones actually get baptized. We are teaching about 29 lessons per week. So the work is good. Investigators are great. it is so neat to see the change in them. That is the only thing that is keeping me going. I love this work but I really miss you all so very much but I guess I will get over it. I miss sports and other things too, but I miss the family and Idaho the most. Love you all. This is the true church. The Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. Love you all. The work must go on!

In The Field At Last....

This is the big week! Since Daniel's missionary training center (CTM) was in Brazil, he was pretty much in the "mission field" already, but he moved to this first area this week. Daniel said it is called Bastistini-São Bernado, but from what we can see, it might be spelled "Batistini" in São Bernado do Campo. This is a region just south of São Paulo proper. He had only gotten there 30 minutes prior to sending us this week's email.

He said it was kind out of in the "boonies" and a bit "ghetto" (to quote Daniel) - quite a ways from the city and in a forest. Before he left home, he was told his mission would be very much an urban one -- hardly ever see a tree. Well maybe not....

He had an interesting bus ride there with so many people on one bus. And, he reports, "the girls down here try to get close to you on purpose" -- he was thankful for his companion. His companion is a Brazilian who speaks no English. That should help with language immersion!

You can tell he will really miss the CTM - his old companion, his trainers, and his district. This last Sunday, he and another elder in his district sang a duet during their last fireside. But the work goes on!

He was eager to get going. In fact, he and his companion (trainer) were heading out to teach three discussions last night. And, they had a baptism scheduled for this coming Sunday! He was excited to see how the Lord had prepared the people in this place to receive the Gospel.

He closed by saying he knew the work "will be hard but I will work through it. I love this gospel so much. I know it is true or I would not be here. I can not wait to bring people to the gospel. I only hope the spirit will be with me."

Please note the address change! All snail mail should now be sent to his mission home. He will only get that mail about 3 times during a transfer, so email is still the better way to communicate. Daniel sends his love to all!!

New Responsibilities....

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks for us as we traveled to Pennsylvania to visit with family. That and with Lucy Ann traveling back & forth to Montpelier, Idaho almost every week to care for her mother. But Daniel has been having some exciting opportunities as well (though he really missed being in Pennsylvania in his role as favorite uncle).

Daniel was called to be a district leader there within the CTM. That takes away from some of the limited free time he had to update us. But it is a good experience for him. When he was called they told him there were three kinds of missionaries – good, very good, and excellent. A good missionary hears about miracles but never sees. A very good missionary sees miracles done by companions. And an excellent missionary is one that performs miracles. I think we know which type Daniel wants to be. He is capable of doing it as well.

My "prophecy" of years ago has finally come to pass. Back in his early days, Daniel didn’t really want to put in the time on his piano practice. Sports were certainly more important. I kept telling him that someday he would be on a mission and asked to play to piano. He would then eventually regret that he didn’t practice as he we wanted him to. Well, bingo, the time is now. He was asked to play for their devotional and finds he is just a bit rusty.

Last week was Daniel’s first birthday in the mission field. It was tough on him. And, it was tough on us. But, that’s one down, one more to go! He said he did have a good time even though he missed being with family. That’s one of the good things about a mission is you get to value your time with family more.

Speaking of family, many of you know that Daniel had a sister Megan who died from brain cancer when she was three. This was long before Daniel was born, but I’m sure he got to meet with her on the other side of the veil before he was born. Anyway, he’s had an interesting experience with Megan since being on his mission. I think in general missionaries have a greater opportunity to be close to angels and those in the spirit world. In Daniel’s case, he has found that Megan is watching over and (with the Lord’s help) protecting him on his mission, and she is happy he is serving a mission. He has been impressed to tell us that Megan especially misses and loves her Mommy. She is looking forward to a later time when she can be back together with us. This experience has greatly strengthened his testimony of the Lord’s plan for our salvation and how it allows us to return again to our family members who have gone before us. Needless to say, his experience brings us great comfort and joy!

So the days are quickly passing, and Daniel is looking forward to leaving the CTM and getting about the Lord’s work in earnest. He has had some great teachers who have been helping to prepare him. His love for the Brazilian people is already evident. His language skills are coming together and the wisdom behind having the missionary training center there in Brazil is obvious. He’s already reading the Portuguese language version of the Book of Mormon. And, he and his companion were allowed to go out proselyting. He was able to speak with people and share his testimony. They were able to place several Books of Mormon. He had the chance to feel how the Spirit can help him with a less than familiar language. Again, a great opportunity that came about because of the Lord’s wisdom in having a missionary training center in the field.

Let me close with his closing words:

I love this gospel and know that it is the true church. I know that Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer. I know that the Book of Mormon changes lives because it is the true word of God. I love being a missionary!