Another week come and gone!

February 24th This week was pretty sweet. We had the opportunity to have Mission Tour with Elder Antunes, an area 70. Mission Tour is when you have a general authority come to the mission to talk to all the missionaries. I was able to learn a lot from him and wanted to share a few of those things with you guys. Elder Antunes got here on Tuesday right around noon, and after talking to us in the office for a little bit we went out to lunch with him. he's a really funny guy and it's pretty cool that he wanted to come and eat with us. We then had a meeting and he used D&C 81 starting at verse 3 and really went into detail. He talked about the importance of being "faithful in council". We need to always make decisions in council; with our leaders, spouse, friends, etc. and then with this council, pray always! Like I mentioned before, this is something that I'm working on. The final step is proclaiming the gospel. And if we do these 3 things, the Lord promises us that we will do the "greatest good" to our fellow beings. Simple things, but super important. Then when we read verse 5 where it says "Wherefore, be faithful" he stopped the person reading and repeated super loud and excitedly "BE FAITHFUL!" We have to "faithful until the end"! We can't do these things only somedays but when we get tired take a break. It was a super cool example to me of how much we can actually get out of just a few verses if we really study them. When he was talking to all the missionaries, he focused on the importance of faith and miracles. He said something that I'll never forget; "Many have faith that the Lord can do miracles, even devils know that. But... do we have the faith that the Lord can do miracles or that he will do them?" I've been thinking a lot about that since then... do I really have the faith that the Lord will actually do miracles in my life? Then he said "Faith is a present the comes from righteousness. The more righteous we are, the greater our faith will be." So many people don't know what they need to do to have more faith in Christ, but the way that Elder Antunes said it pretty much sums it up. We just need to be righteous! Just follow the commandments! If we do, the faith will automatically come. I was able to be around Elder Antunes more because I'm in the office, and I'm super grateful for that. I noticed though that I really have a loooong way to go before I get to his level... if I ever do!! He just has so much faith and knowledge, it's really inspiring to see and to be around him. I'm very grateful as well for the leaders we have in the church, I have no doubt they're inspired. In the field, one of our "eternal investigators" (Marcos, 17 years old been going to church for a year but doesn't want to get baptized) went to youth conference and now he's finally excited! We're going to visit him and mark a baptismal date with him. Speaking of miracles, the Lord have given us one with him! We're still working with Cesar (his 10 yr old daughter refused to wake up to go to church and he couldn't leave her at home alone) and Leila and her daughter Letícia. It's a slow process, but we're making headway, slowly but surely! That's it for me though. I hope you have an awesome week! Love you! Elder Odom

Taking Advantage of Every Moment

February 17th One more week down! So this week actually wasn't too eventful. We had leadership council with all the zone leaders on Tuesday and I got to see Elder Vilas Boas again, so that was pretty cool! In the office I'm just continuing to train Elder McLean. There's still a lot more to cover, but we have one more month until he needs to be ready! He's picking it up quick so I'm sure that he'll be good to go. With our investigators we're making headway. We're still teaching Leila and her daughter, and then we also have Cesar. It was funny because last week we invited Cesar to go to church, but then he didn't show up. We were pretty bummed out about that becuase we were sure he was going to go. But then after we visited him during the week he said "I went to church on Sunday". We were really confused because we waited for him and didn't see him. But what ended up happening is that he went to a different ward! Our ward starts at 8:30 with the classes and the other ward starts at 9:00 with sacrament meeting, and Cesar got to church at 8:45 and just went to the other ward! He stayed all 3 hours of church too which was pretty cool. So this week we made sure that he knows where he needs to go. But, his baptism is going to be on this Saturday! His only problem is coffee, so if he can stop with that he'll be good to go! So far he's been able to not drink it, but it's been hard for him, but I know that he can do it! Keep him in your prayers!! Something that I studied about this week was prayer. When I was trying to think of what I needed to talk about in my training with my district, I got a prompting that it needed to be about prayer. It was a really good meeting and we were all able to learn a lot together! 2 scriptures that I really like about prayer: 2 Nephi 32:8-9 and D&C 42:14. In the verse in 2 Nephi, something that really stood out to me was "ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee". We need to pray before we do anything!! It really hit me that I'm not valuing the gift of prayer as much as I should be. I've been making a more conscious effort to always say prayers before I talk to someone on the street, go into an investigators house, etc. even if it's just a quick mental prayer. I've also been trying to make my prayer more meaningful. As missionaries we pray so much that it ends up being just another part of our routine and I've noticed that lots of times i'm not as sincere as I should be. I think we forget too often that we're actually talking with Heavenly Father! I've felt a difference in my day as I've done this. Like it says in the scripture in D&C 42, prayer is how we can get the Spirit to be with us! I'm very grateful for all the experiences I'm having to grow and help other people here on the mission. As I get more and more time out here, I'm really starting to realize that this really is a one in a lifetime experience. Once I'm home, I won't be able to be a missionary like I am now ever again! But all I can do is keep learning and taking advantage of every moment I have. Until next week, love you guys!! Elder Odom

Right Place at the Right Time

February 10th Hey! This week has been pretty busy! Now that I've gotten started on the training, I'm starting to realize just how much stuff that I need to pass on to Elder McLean. Like you said Dad, you don't realize how much you do until you have to teach someone else, but it's going good! This week we got more new missionaries. In the group was another Elder from Draper, Elder Swanson. He went to Alta and we have a few friends in common so it was fun to get to know him a bit more. Aside from the training, there hasn't been much else going on in the office. But, this week we actually moved apartments! Elder McLean and I will now be living with the assistants and the other secretaries will be moving into another apartment in the same building later this week. It's a much bigger apartment than our last one and I really like the assistants, so it should be pretty cool. Something random that I was pretty happy about though is that I was bale to get all my stuff into 2 suitcases! I remember the first time I was transferred, I almost didn't get all my stuff into 3 suitcases but I put the medium sized one inside the biggest one and between that and my carry-on I was good to go. I got a box from the office and put a bunch of stuff in there that I want to take home but don't want to take to my next area, like letters, a few souvenirs, etc. and I'll leave the box in the office until I go home. In the area, the work's going good. Our main problem this week was that a bunch of stuff in the office kept popping up that we needed to do and it made us get to the area late. Because of that, we've had to remark a bunch of appointments. With less than 3 hours in the field everyday, it really just isn't enough time to do everything that you want to! We really have to make sure that we plan well so that we can take advantage of the time that we have. Our investigators Leila, her daughter Letícia, and then Cesar are our main focus in the field right now. We had a great lesson with Cesar this past Tuesday. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and he just took it all in. One thing that I really like about him is that he asks good questions because he actually wants to understand and learn more. Teaching investigators like him is super fun! Now we just need to work on getting him to church. He also has a 10 year old daughter named Luana, but she's super super shy and quiet, so we decided that we're going to work on getting Cesar ready for baptism and then once he's baptized we'll focus more on Luana. Leila is still in the same spot as she was... Her main problem is her husband. If it wan't for him, she'd be baptized already! Every time she doesn't go to church it's because he does something to make her not go. Sometimes he takes the keys to the house and leaves her there, other times he just straight up tells her that she's not going to church. It's been pretty hard and I've been pretty worried trying to find out how to get around this situation. Last Sunday during ward council I talked about her and said that in order for her to be baptized, she's going to need support from the ward. The Relief Society president said that she was going to visit her this week so we'll see how that will help. Leila has been going to all the activities that the Relief Society has every Wednesday as well, so that 's been great! She's already making a lot of friends in the ward and so when she's baptized it's just be that much easier to stay active afterward. We had a really cool experience with a less active member. We were in the area on our way to an investigators house when we heard "Hey Elders!". A boy came up and started talking to us. He said his name is Filipe and is 14 years old, and he was already baptized but wanted to start going to church again. So we went to his house to talk to him and his family, and during the lesson he started crying because of some hard things he's going through right now. He and his family are super poor, they live in an area called a "favela" which is basically a slum. We talked to him about the importance of putting the church and gospel as your number 1 priority, especially during hard times, and he and his family promised they'd go to church. On sunday, Filipe showed up! He walked to church by himself, even though his family didn't go. We told the young men's president and the bishop that he was there and they talked to him and helped him out. The ward now has helped him out to go on "acampamento", which is what they call youth conference. he's actually there right now! The ward was able to pay for him. I was super happy that the ward was so quick to help him out, and that we were able to be in the right place at the right time in order for him to find us! That's all for me though. Have a great week, love you! Elder Odom

Finally Training Replacement

February 3rd

Another good, fast week for me. This week was the last one of the transfer, and I got some news. I'll be training another missionary here in the mission office and then I'm heading back to the field! I'll have the whole transfer to train him, and it'll end here in 6 weeks. It's crazy that I'm already going to be leaving the office soon... I got here at the end of last May, but it sure doesn't seem like it's been that long! The missionary that I'll be training is Elder McLean from Illinois. I've known him since he's arrived on the mission, so it should be a fun transfer. Another thing that happened though is that, sadly, I won't be companions with Elder Dantas anymore! President decided that he is going to have one of the financial secretaries train as well, and so instead of having 2 trios we'll have 3 groups of 2. I'll just be with Elder McLean. I only got to work with him for one transfer, but it was a good one!

In the field, our investigators are slowly progressing, in the office we just planned for the transfer, etc. Although something cool that happened is that the Sister's had a baptism and a wedding for a less-active and her husband, who was the investigator. They've been teaching him for over 4 months, and finally he was able to be baptized and get married. It was a real example of perseverance and patience to me. The wedding that they and the members put on was awesome! It was on Friday night and all the planning that went into it really payed off. I realized that it was probably a good thing that the sisters were teaching him, because if it were my companion and me that had to plan the wedding, we'd be toast! But I also had the privilege to interview this investigator. His name is Jorge. He really is an example of a convert. He just has so much faith! He told me that one of his biggest concerns was not being able to pay tithing. He doesn't make a whole lot of money and doesn't want to have to choose in between giving his baby food or paying tithing. We talked for a long time about how the Lord will bless him for his efforts, and in the end he said "okay, I'll never miss a month paying tithing, even if I don't know what's going to happen". He hadn't even been baptized, but he has that much faith! He has a stronger testimony than lots of members even have. Super cool experience!

We found a couple this week that have already been taught by missionaries a few times, and it was a really fun lesson. Their names are Jessica and Pablo, and they know a lot about the church! When we asked about what they remembered, they explained the entire Plan of Salvation and all about Joseph Smith! What's good is that even though they've researched the church a lot, they haven't gotten into any anti-mormon stuff, and if they have it seems like it hasn't effected them in any way. They just had good things to say about the church! Jessica even said that she was grateful for Joseph Smith and the vision he had (the First Vision). They even listen to church EFY music at home! But, when we talked to them about baptism, they were hesitant and said that they were already baptized in another church so they didn't see it as being something necessary... Even though they understand well, they still can't see the importance of being baptized in the right way, so there's a bit of a disconnect somewhere. Usually when people understand our messages so well like they do it becomes clear that they need to be baptized again, but we'll keep working with them to find out what's missing!

On a side note, I was able to make a cool connection with Pablo. He really loves basketball (pretty rare here in Brazil) and when I walked in I couldn't believe what I saw... He was playing NBA 2K18! I've never seen someone play NBA 2K on the mission before! It was pretty cool to talk to him a bit about the NBA too. Pretty sweet!

But, that's my week! Have another great week and until next time. 

Elder Odom

Spence upload a bunch of pics - here's a few:

A new investigator

January 27th

This week was great! Until now, we've been having a bit of a hard time with our teaching group, but we were able to make headway this week. This week we had a great experience with a new investigator. His name is Cesar and we was a referral from Leila, our investigator. We talked to him last Sunday and we were able to teach him the first lesson this past Tuesday. It was great! He is very smart and polite and can see things/think in a a logical way like so many people can't. The lessons we teach are very logical; they make a lot of sense and are simple. Because of this, he was able to understand very well the "why" of prophets, the apostasy, etc. When we invited him to pray about our message, he said that if he got an answer, he "wouldn't have any way to not follow an answer from God". And when we marked a date with him, he even asked "what time will the baptism be?" I don't think I've ever had someone except a date so easily while at the same time understanding what he was agreeing to! It's great to see the hand of the Lord in this work, with patience and perseverance the blessings will always come.

We've been having a lot of great opportunities given to us to find more people. Friends of members coming to activities, people approaching us in the street, investigators giving us referrals, it's been so cool! It doesn't always happen like this on the mission, so we are really trying to take advantage of it while we can!

Something that I've felt impressed to study more this week is about the temple. Kind of funny, because I don't have a temple on my mission! And it's here on the mission I've come to be grateful for the temple... Probably because of the fact I can't go! I was able to get my hands on a really cool book called "You can claim the blessings of the holy temple" by Boyk K. Packer. I've really started to recognize how lucky we are to have so many temples where we live. A quote I really like from it is; "Those who fail to partake of the privileges and blessings of the temple work deprive themselves of some of the choicest gifts within the keeping of the Church". Wow! That's powerful! The members here consider themselves lucky that they only need to pay 100 Reais (their money) and take a 3 hour bus ride to get to the nearest temple. Man, there are a lot of things that I think that I should've done differently at home, but going to the temple more is up there as one of the biggest. You guys should find this book and read it. It's super good!

All in all a successful week for me. It's great being a missionary! I'm always grateful for the experiences I have to learn and grow and help others. There really isn't any other time like this in my life! Love you all!

Elder Odom

A Cool Experience

January 20th

Hey!! Pretty good week for us. It was a bit harder to do stuff in the office during the first part of the week because President had interviews with the missionaries, so a bunch of missionaries from the areas here in Ribeirão Preto and close cities were here. Fun to see everyone, but it makes it a bit harder to get stuff done!

This week we had a super cool experience. On Saturday the Sister's had a baptism, and before we stopped by our investigator Leila's house to pick her up. But, we found out that her husband, Luciano, had gone out onto the street and started to argue with some neighbors, then grabbed Leila's phone and the keys to the house and just walked away super mad. Their daughter Letícia got really scared and went to a friends house to spend the night with her. So Leila explained that she really wanted to go the baptism but couldn't leave the house unlocked with nobody there because of security reasons. It was sad for us, but we just told her that we'd pass by her house to get her for church the next day. So on Sunday morning we got to her house again and went to church with her. This year the ward is starting with Quorum and Relief Society, so we left her with the other women and went to quorum. As the first block was ending, we saw the Sisters motioning for us to come in the door, so we went out to talk to them. They said that Leila got up and said she was going to get a drink, and never came back! We couldn't believe it! Until then, I'd never had an investigator leave in the middle of church without telling us... So, we went to her house to find her. We kept clapping at her door, but she nobody was coming. Then a neighbor passed by her house and threw a bag of recyclables over the wall (her and her family sell them to earn a little extra money).  We waited for a few more minutes, and then we heard some rustling, I looked through the crack in her wall and saw her getting the stuff the neighbor threw over. So then we knocked and she had to answer!

She told us that she had gotten a call from Letícia's friend's mom that she was going to drop Letícia off at their house in between 9:30 and 10:00, but she couldn't drop her off at the church because she was "embarrassed". So we decided that we'd wait with her until her daughter got back, and while we were we'd review the Restoration with her. We asked her if she'd prayed about Joseph Smith since the first time we taught the lesson, and she said that until then she hadn't. I started to say "Tonight will you pray to receive..." then I immediately remembered something that President told  us; "Why don't we invite people to pray then and there? Lots of times we say that it's the investigators that don't have faith, but it's actually you guys that need to have more faith!" and I knew that I needed to invite her to pray right then. So I asked her if she believed if God could give her an answer if she asked, and she said yes. So we invited her to pray for us. We knelt down and she said in her prayer "God, I want to know, with a sincere heart, if the things the Elders have taught me are true, and if you called Joseph Smith to be prophet. I believe that I can get an answer to these things". Wow! I'd never heard someone pray that specifically to get an answer! As she was praying, I was also praying that she'd get an answer that she could recognize. Elder Dantas and I put our trust in the Lord and we needed Him to do His part! And, he did. At the end of the prayer I started to feel the Spirit, and Leila did too. We sat in silence after the prayer for about 15 seconds, and we told her to look at the image in the pamphlet of the First Vision. Then we asked her what she was feeling. After a little pause, she said "peace". We explained that peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and if what we taught wasn't true God wouldn't be giving her the feeling that she had. She started to cry as we continued to talk. It was a real miracle that happened right in front of us. It was a great experience that I'll never forget, and an important lesson that when we really put our trust in God He will always do His part. What's interesting though is leading up to that point, it seemed as if everything that could've gone wrong did. And when I was inviting her to pray, I felt something that I've never felt before... I felt that Satan was actually mad at us. I can't explain it very well, but it was like a heavy feeling was in the room in the moments leading up to her prayer. Super weird, but I'm super grateful for the Lord's help and that I got to be a part of this great experience! We actually went back to church without Leila because Letícia still hasn't gotten back, but it was all worth it!

Well, I hope you have an awesome week! Love you!

Elder Odom

Busy zone conference week

January 13th, 2018

Wow, what a busy week! This one really passed by quick. This week we had 3 zone conferences and there was a lot to do. It's good to stay busy, but it seems like whenever we have zone conferences we are so busy doing stuff for them that I get behind on other stuff!

I've been really trying to focus on planning this week and how to make the most out of the time that I have. I've realized that it's been a bit hard to balance all that I need to do... Stuff in the office, in my own area, and as a district leader. It's definitely a different experience having to try to give time and effort to all these different things.

This week we had a cool experience with our investigator Leila. When we started to teach her it was a bit rocky, it just seemed like it wasn't clicking with her. But this week we finally made some progress! She's now starting to understand more about how the gospel can bless her life and the lives of those in her family. We planned a family home evening with the Sisters and our ward mission leader to take our investigators, and it was super cool. Leila and her daughter were able to get to know other investigators and recent converts better which will really help her in the long run. It was a good reminder that when members are helping in the work it's always soooo much better!

But for zone conference, President focused a lot on the Book of Mormon and the power that it has. As a missionary, it's our most important tool in helping people become converted to Christ. It's also the main thing we can use to answer questions that people have. It's so cool to think that there's a way for any question that an investigator could have can be answered with one question: Is the Book of Mormon true? Because if it is, it doesn't matter if someone doesn't agree with not being able to drink coffee or doesn't believe that God talks to prophets in our day. By teaching and studying this throughout my mission I've really come to learn this for myself. We can also apply this in our own lives! it doesn't matter what doubts someone has about the church, they only need to ask themselves the question if the Book of Mormon is true. It's so simple so get rid of doubts! If we continually focus on the basics and keep striving to strengthen our testimonies of the Book of Mormon we won't have any room for doubts or questions!

I've been thinking about your talk a bit this week mom, about how my mission has helped me grow closer to Christ. It's a big topic! But I wanted to focus on just one of the ways. Something that I understand much better now than I did when I was at home is that we don't ever have to be alone in our trials or challenges. If we do our part and just trust in the Savior, things will work out. It's for sure a hard concept to explain, I think one of the only ways to really learn that is by experience! Throughout the scriptures, we receive promises that if we ask, then we will receive, and this promise is true! Heavenly Father wants to bless us! But, we have to ask with faith, and we will get the help that we need after doing all that we can. I know now that it really is impossible to be a missionary and work just with my own abilities, I need the Lord's help in order to accomplish the things I need to, and this goes for life after the mission as well. I know that if we have hope and patience and we expect to receive the blessings we need, then we always will! It's still something that I'm learning everyday, how to trust more in the Lord in all I do, but I'm very grateful for the experiences I've had and that the Lord has given me in order to understand this a little bit better.

Another thing that I'm always saying as well is that "hard is good". I really didn't understand this before the mission. I wanted to try and escape all suffering and all trials, and when I had them I didn't try to look for ways that I could learn or progress, just how I could get away as soon as possible! Looking back now i can really see the hand of the Lord in all the trials I've had, bearing me up and teaching me things that I wouldn't be able to learn without them. The Lord really does know what's best for us, and the only way we can become what he expects us to is by just forgetting our personal desires and trusting in Him.

Well, there's my week. Sorry not much as far as experiences go. It's just not very interesting hearing about dealing with health appointments for missionaries or making announcements during zone conferences. But until next week, Love you guys!

Elder Odom