Thick with the Spirit

December 23rd

Surprise! President decided to give us our normal Pday on saturday! So we'll get to email today and Skype on Christmas!

This week was pretty cool. We're starting a new transfer, and this time it's without my old comp Elder Vilas Boas. We were comps for 6 months and never had a single problem! I'll for sure miss him a bit but I'm glad we got the chance to learn and grow together for the last 6 months. he left as a zone leader in a city called Birigui. Now it's just Elder Dantas and I, but it should be a great transfer! Not sure if I've already mentioned it or not, but he was in the first group of missionaries that got to the mission when I got to the mission office. It's already been 7 months! Time really does fly.

Today we woke up, cleaned the apartment, went and played volleyball, and then we were blessed with another super super good brunch that Sister Scholz made. 2 of their kids are here for Christmas and so Sister Scholz wanted to have us over again to eat. I love her, she's so awesome! I'm positive that you can't have a cooler mission president and sister than I have. We had french toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, cantaloupe (I've only seen it at the mission home!), banana bread, blueberry muffins, all kinda stuff. 

I'm also looking forward to this transfer with work in the field. We had a bunch of changes moving around areas in between districts, new leaders, etc and in my district I got Vila Virgina, my last area! Now I'll be able to do splits there and see the members and old investigators that I knew. Also, in the the ward/area I'm serving in (Ribeirão Preto Ala 1) we share the area with sisters, and this transfer I'm going to have 2 sister training leaders in my district! Usually President separates them, but this time he put 2 together. They are Sister Magleby from California and Sister Zêni from Rio de Janeiro. They're both really cool and work hard, so it should be a good transfer!

This week, we had a great experience with the Spirit that really strengthened my testimony of the power of the Holy Ghost. We have an investigator named Leila, and she found the church because of one of the invites we passed out for Ward Conference. She wrote down her information and gave it to a member and asked to let the missionaries pass by her house. Pretty cool! So after a few times of trying to find her at home, we were able to talk to her last Tuesday. She has lots of problems in her family. She has 2 kids, ages 10 and 12, and a husband. But her husband has been drinking since he's been 8 years old and this has really taken a huge toll on his health, both physically and mentally. He was in the hospital being treated, but snuck out on his own and now the hospital can't let him back in unless he has someone in his family to keep an eye on him there 24/7. And, the only one that would be able to do that is Leila, but she can't because she has to watch her kids. So at this point, she doesn't really know what to to do, and we didn't either as she was explaining this to us. We were trying our best to listen to her and to the Spirit to know what to say, but there were kids walking in and out of the room the whole time and her husband kept shouting random stuff. We were about to get up and leave, thinking "this isn't working. We'll come back another day" But then we started to talk about church and the Savior and the blessings it would bring if she and her family would start trying to follow Him, and as we did she started to cry. Then, everyone stopped and started to pay really close attention to what we were saying. I can't remember exactly what I said and neither can Elder Dantas, but what most impressed on me was the feeling that came into the room. It was thick with the Spirit! As I was speaking, I got an idea that popped into my head, "say a kneeling prayer with everyone right now". So, that's what we did. As I said the prayer, Leila,her husband Luciano,  and her kids (who had been joking around before) were all crying. The Spirit touched the hearts of each one, and they were all able to feel that what we said was true. I've never had an experience quite like that on my mission, and I'm extremely grateful for the chance that the Lord gave me to be a part of it.

We will continue to work with her and her family in the best way we can. We still don't know exactly what we will be able to do to help her, but all we can do is rely on the Lord and He will provide a way!

Well, there you have it for this past week.

Love, Elder Odom

New opportunities to learn

December 16th

Okay, this week was pretty busy!

It seems like this whole week I've been scrambling to get stuff done. This week we had zone conferences and it was the last week of the transfer, so there was a lot to do! Planning announcements, organizing how and when the missionaries will get to the conferences, missionaries  losing documents the day before they go home, finishing up the t-shirts (turned out pretty good! Ill send a pic of them to the Sync this week), getting the returning missionaries' plans ready,  buying tickets, etc. But, busy weeks are good weeks!

Monday should be a pretty packed day as well. Normally, we send the returning missionaries home on Monday and get the new missionaries on Tuesday, but for some reason with Christmas being close the MTC decided to send the new missionaries on Monday as well. The group going home will be the biggest group that President Scholz sends on his mission! We're all a bit anxious to see how it'll go. Yesterday I also got an email from the church in São Paulo that didn't have super good news. Brazil came out with a new law with registering foreigners in the country a few weeks ago, but the problem is that they didn't tell anyone what it means or how to use it.... so pretty much all the federal police stations in the country are sitting around not knowing what to do, and they're all scared that if they renew a visa or something the wrong way they'll get in trouble, so they just decided that they won't renew visas until they know what's going on. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's the situation. So, because I'm in charge of making sure that all the foreigners are legal to stay this causes me a few problems. The email that I got said that one of the missionaries that we will get on Monday wasn't able to get registered at the MTC, to they're going to send some documents with him so that we can try to register him here. He has 30 days since the day he got into the country to get registered and he got here on the 21 of November so he's running out of time quick! I've never had to do a full registration of someone before, so... we'll see how it goes I guess!

This week I rediscovered BYU talks. When I first got into the office I was listening to them a bunch as I was working, but for some reason I stopped! But Elder Dwain reminded me in an email to start listening to them again! He told me about a really good one, called "A Law of Increasing Returns" by Henry B. Eyring. It talks about how many times, it seems like we work super hard and try to be obedient but it doesn't seem to pay off and the promised blessing don't come. It's awesome and you guys should check it out! 

We're starting a new transfer, I'll have a new district, and new opportunities to learn. Looking forward to what it brings! Thanks for the support that I always get from you guys, and have a great week! Love you!

Elder Odom

Man...I'm Dead!

December 9th

Hey, another quick week down!

Well, not much happened this week. It was super busy, but with stuff in the office. Buying tickets for missionaries going home, doing health stuff, planning for the last week of the transfer, etc. I stayed busy but just with stuff that isn't super interesting to you guys.

But, I did have a pretty interesting experience this week. There is a Sister, from São Paulo, that's here in our mission serving as a temporary missionary waiting for her visa. She was called to the Fort Lauderdale mission. A few weeks ago, she was able to get it, and so this week she had to travel to São Paulo to do an interview at the American Consulate. The church sent us her flight plans and she was leaving on thursday at 6:00 AM, so that means we had  to get a taxi to get to the airport at 5:00. President was traveling doing interviews and the assistents we doing splits, so it was my responsibility to get everything sorted out for her. I set my alarm on my watch and phone for 4:15 AMso I'd have lots of time to get ready. Then on Thursday morning, I woke up with a start. I looked at my watch... and it was 5:00 AM!! Both my companions and I had slept through the alarms! We through on our clothes as fast as we could and called the taxi. The Sister's apartment is only 2 roads down from ours, and we were out in front of it waiting for the taxi at 5:07. I've never gotten ready that fast before! The sisters were ready to go as well. So it was Elder Dantas, Sister Abdo (the one who was going to São Paulo), Sister Behner (her comp), and me heading to the airport. Once we got there we rushed inside and went to talk to the people at the counter. It was 5:40 by this time, and as you can probably imagine I was pretty stressed out and nervous. But as Sister Abdo was talking to the people, one of the workers shook his head... it was too late. It was at that moment that I thought that my life was finished.... We tried to get him to let her on, but he wouldn't, and the next flight wasn't until 10:00. I wasn't quite sure what to do, but the only option we had was to head back to the center of the city where the office/apartments are and then go back to the airport to trade her ticket in for the 10:00 flight. The only thing I could think during that drive back was "Man... I'm dead!" Honestly I don't know if I've been as stressed as I was during my mission! So Elder Dantas and I went back to the mission office and the first thing I did was get ahold of the church in São Paulo to let them know what happened. The guy that works for the church travel office was pretty stressed out as well, but he said that we should just send her on the next flight and he'll see what he can do. Then I called President to let him know. But, he wasn't too worried as I had already talked with São Paulo and had a backup plan to get Sister Abdo there. So we went back, got the ticket traded (without a fee!) and got her on the plane. Phew! In the end, it all worked out, but I learned a valueable lesson to never let myself sleep in again, because wow that was a stressful experience!

As far as work in the field goes, to be honest it's been a bit tough recently... It seems like we find someone really good, but then something ends up happening and we can't find the person at home anymore, they lose the desire to learn, etc. There certainly are benefits of being in the mission office, but field work is for sure a lot more complicated with the limited time we have! But, if there is one thing that I've learned until now on the mission, it's that the Lord will always provide a way for us to do the things we are expected to do. I'm sure that all my companions and I need is patience and to continue serving and being obedient and He will provide us with success. Sometimes, in my experience, the hardest things that we have to do and deal with aren't necessarily physical or emotional trials, but continuing to be firm and endure to the end in every moment. Lots of times when we have appointments and lessons that fall through, we're left with nothing planned for the next hour and a half. After being rejected and not having a lot of success, lots of times the last thing you want to do is keep working! It's always so much easier to just go home a bit earlier, or sit down on a bench to take a break, but I believe that the Lord gives us these moments at times to test our faith. Can we really keep going, even when it seems like nothing is going our way? Do we really have the desire, willpower, and faith to keep pushing forward and endure to the end? For me, this is hard. But I know that it's in these times that the Lord really does bless us. He knows our hearts and our struggles, and he will be there to bless us and give us the strength necessary to keep going. It's after we keep pushing though with faith in these hard times that we will see the miracles in our lives. Everyday, I focus on trying to work a little bit more and continue and, as President Monson says, always "pick the harder right instead of the easier wrong."

I'm grateful for the chance I have to be a missionary and serve the Lord. I know that even though it isn't easy, serving a mission is the best choice I've ever made. Thank you Mom and Dad for all the support that I have gotten from you, both before the mission in order to be here and now as a missionary in the field! I have a great support system at home and I can't thank everyone enough!

Sorry for the short email! This next week should be really busy and there is lots to do, so let's hope everything goes smoothly. later!

Elder Odom

Trusting in Christ

December 2nd

Hi! I hope this past week for you guys was good. I had a pretty good one!

So this week I've been pretty busy with stuff in the office! Something cool that I've been working on that's different is the mission T-shirt. President and Sister Scholz want to make a custom T-shirt for all the missionaries in the mission, and President put me in charge of figuring out all the logistics of it, like the basic design of it, contacting a company to make it, etc. Just one more thing I'm doing that I didn't really imagine myself doing on the mission! It's been pretty cool working with Pres and Sister Scholz to make it though, and I think it will turn out pretty good! We should have them all done in about 2 weeks from now. President wanted to make it a shirt that we would actually use at home, not just a shirt we use to work out or sleep in! When we get the finished product, I'll send you guys a picture to see what you think.

This week we also had a missionary that needed to have surgery and one more that is preparing to get surgery next week, so that wasn't super fun to deal with all that comes with that. I've had to talk quite a bit with our insurance company and the doctors in São Paulo to get everything figured out. One of the missionaries had to get a kidney stone lasered out and the other will have to get their gallbladder removed. Dealing with all the health stuff on the mission is kind of a downer sometimes, but it really makes me grateful for the great health I've had so far, Heavenly Father has really blessed me!

This week we had a miracle with someone we found contacting last week. I was on splits with one of the zone leaders who came from another city for leadership council, and we talked to a man sitting on his front steps and taught him real quick and marked a day to go back. He said his names is Marcio. During the contact, he seemed pretty interested and showed that he had real desire to change his life. Then last Sunday, my companions (I was doing splits with another missionary in his area) went back to teach him and when they got there he said "I've been waiting for you!" He told them that he prayed to know about the things we'd taught him the first time we met him and he said that he knew that everything we said is true and that he wants to be baptized. How cool!! He told my comps that he has a problem with smoking (he smokes 30 per day) and he wants to stop. Elder Vilas Boas asked "in one week from now, next Sunday, how many cigarettes will you be smoking?" He thought for a little bit, then looked at him and said "None. I'll stop completely this week." Elder Vilas Boas couldn't believe it! The only problem we have is that he's a truck driver, and so he spends the whole week traveling and get home late on Saturday night so we can only teach him on Sunday, but we've been calling him every single day to follow up with him to see how he's doing. On Tuesday when we called, he said had only smoked 3 on Monday, and by Wednesday he had already completely stopped. He said it's super super hard for him, but he's trusting in Christ to give him strength to continue strong. From his example, my testimony has been so strengthened. If we open our hearts to Christ and give it our all, then that's when miracles in our lives can happen. He went from smoking 30 cigarettes per day for years to just stopping! I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father and how he brought Marcio to us to be able to share our message with him, and all the strength and help He is giving him as he battles against his addiction. If we put our trust in the Lord, anything is possible!

But, there you have it. I hope this next week is great for you guys!

Elder Odom

New Companion

November 25th

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had an awesome time celebrating it!

On Tuesday, we got our new companion! His name is Elder Dantas, he was born in the state of Rio Grande do Norte but has lived in the state of Santa Catarina since he's been 15. he's going to be trained to be the other secretary for the next 3 weeks, so we'll be in a trio until the end of the transfer, and then it'll just me him and me until I leave the office. He's really cool and we're already having a good time with him. Something else that's cool is that he has the exact same birthday as me! He has been on the mission for about 6 months now, which is funny because he was in the first group of new missionaries that came when I got called to be in the mission office. It's already been awhile! Time's going by quick for sure.

This week I'd like to talk about another really cool experience that my comp and I had. It happened last Sunday. As we were going to the different lessons we had planned, pretty much every single one of them fell through. So we sat down in a park to try to figure out what to do. we talked for a bit and then said a prayer to be led to those who need us. Then we went out and started kind of walking around without a destination in mind, like we did last week with Julie. As we were walking, we passed a girl that was just bawling and another woman trying to console her. After about 10 seconds, my comp Elder Vilas Boas stopped and asked, "Do you think that we should go talk to them?" Honestly, I'd been asking myself the same thing! I said that I didn't know. We sat there talking about if we should or not for a good 5 mins, because we were worried! We didn't want to get there and start talking to them and have them get mad and us and say "why are you talking to us? Can't you see this is a personal moment??" and be annoyed with the missionaries. It's been a pretty long time since I've been that hesitant to make a contact with someone. After thinking and talking about it, we just decided to go for it. We could literally feel the Spirit saying "go and talk to them!!" As we were walking back to them, Elder Vilas Boas said "Heavenly Father, we're doing our part and trying to be obedient, please help us!" We also noticed that 3 more people had left the house to help talk to the girl. At first, they were a bit annoyed and startled that we would even talk to them. But, we just testified of Christ and told them that He has a plan for each one of us and that through the gospel any problem we have can be overcome. We could feel the Spirit really strong as we talked to them, and I know that they did too. By the end of the conversation, they we're all excited and said that they knew that God was looking out for them by sending us to talk to them in the right moment. We marked tomorrow (Sunday) to go back to talk to them. I hope that we will be able to follow up with them and continue to teach them! Elder Vilas Boas and I reflected on that moment afterward. It would've been so easy to judge and say that it's a bad moment to talk to someone and that we didn't feel anything, but what a great experience we would've lost! We would've never known what good we could've done. My comp also mad e the comment that he's glad we listened, because on judgement day the Lord would've reminded us about this moment! This was a great testimony builder to me. Lot's of times, we have the tendency to judge and think that we know best. Lot's of times we're scared because we don't know exactly what will happen. But, the Lord always know's the best way and if we follow Him  and do our best to follow the promptings of the Spirit, we can be sure that things will turn out the right way. I'm grateful that my companion and I had the courage to follow the Spirit even though we were apprehensive and nervous about what would happen. But we did our part, and the Lord did His! The more we put our trust in the Lord, the better things will work out for us.

Sorry I didn't write a whole lot, I forgot to use the alphasmart (yeah I still use it because in the office I generally don't have enough down time to write my letters). But I'm grateful for all of you!  I've been so blessed!

Elder Odom

President Schultz played Bball at BYU! The Elders are so impressed with his skills!

Listening to the Spirit

November 18th

Wow, Nick's home! I can't believe it! All this time thinking and imagining this moment and it's finally here! Like I've already said, it's pretty weird to think that it's over for him. Although, he served a good mission!

So, a few experiences that I had this week. Something that was really cool that happened was one night both of the appointments we marked fell through and the people we were going to visit weren't home. So, we decided to look for new investigators with the time we had to spare. As we were walking, I was thinking to myself, "I have no idea where to go... Heavenly Father, please take us to someone that will accept our message or someone that we can help". We were just going up and down the streets without a destination in mind, just trying to find someone on the road that we could talk to. We passed a house that had a door open and when I looked at it, I had this very subtle feeling that was telling me to knock on that door. So, I did! And older lady walked out and we started to talk to her. Her name is Julie. For some reason also, about 5 minutes before we knocked on her door, I had the idea to talk about Christ's baptism and the example he set for us. We started talking about that and she really understood the importance of it, it was cool. She told us about a surgery that she needs on her right eye, but for some reason she needs to wait until the doctors can give it to her, so she's just waiting to get it. Then Elder Vilas Boas made a promise to her: "If you put into practice the things that we will teach you and do your part to come unto Christ, you will be able to get your surgery before the year is over." Wow! It's already late in the year and it's been awhile since she's been waiting for it! But when he said that, I felt a confirmation that his promise is true. As missionaries, at times we say things that even we don't expect! But that's what happens when we're trying to follow the Spirit, because it's not us that're teaching, it's the Holy Ghost. It was really interesting to see how quickly the Lord answered my prayer to find someone that was in need and that would listen to us. We literally had no idea where we should go, and, without realizing it until afterward, we were led by Him right to Julie's door. We don't always see or recognize all the times the Spirit is leading us or telling us what to do, but we can be sure that if we are always doing our best to follow the commandments and do what's right then he will!

This week President went to another city called Santos for the Mission Presidents Meeting with all the mission presidents in Brazil. There he got to talk to Elder Aidukaitis and his wife who said they remember me pretty well! President and Sister Scholz thought it was pretty cool too that they still go to our ward when they are in Utah. Our ward is awesome! They also talked to President and Sister Chamberlain and they said that Ty is doing a fine job. I also sent the flash drive with the music on it with Pres Scholz and he gave it to Ty's mission Pres, so he should be good to go with music now!

But other than that, we've just been busy with our normal stuff in mission office. Something interesting though is that I'll be getting a 2nd companion next week! Elder Vilas Boas has been in the office since last February and he will be leaving to go back to being a field missionary on the 18th of next month, and will train the new Elder until then. It's a bit sad, because Elder Vilas Boas is awesome! We've been together for almost 6 months and we've never even disagreed about anything! I've really enjoyed this time that I've had with him as my comp. We are so used to each other now that it's getting to the point where I know what he's going to say before he says it and stuff. It's really fun to teach with him because we always are in super good sync with each other. It's be sad to see him go, but I'm sure he has lot's of great new experiences waiting for him working in the field full time!

Sorry for the shorter email, but this week was a bit less exciting. Thank you though for all the support that I get from you guys, I really appreciate it, for real! 

Elder Odom