1 year 4 months

Carta Semanal:

Ok, so not too much happened this week but I´d like to tell you guys how the transfers went. Elder Teasley and Elder Marim will be staying and Elder Bacca and I will be leaving. Elder Bacca will be going to a ward in Salvador called ´´Bonfim´´ and I´m going to be district leader once again in a city called ´´Jacobina´´, which is a few hours from Petrolina I imagine. My companion will be Elder A. Gomes, who´ve I´ve kind of already met before but I haven´t talked a whole lot with him. I know he has more time on the mission than me so it kind of blows me away that I´ll be leading the work with a bunch of more seasoned missionaries. Either way, I´m pretty anxious about how it´s going to be. For a few transfers, President Lisonbee had 4 assistants but now he´s only going to have two and the other two that aren´t going to be assistants anymore are going to be in my district, so I´m super excited about that because it´ll make me want to work harder.

Our pday was good and us 4 went up the nearby mountain in Barreiras close to some of the radio antenas and got some sweet pictures. We went up with a few of the youth of the ward and had a great time. I´ll be sure to send you some pictures today or at least next week.

I made cookies for a few of the members here as a small token of gratitude for the ones that I knew. It was neat and a lot of the members even asked me for the recipe afterwards :-)Last week was pretty quick but Elder Teasley and I last monday put some money together and made some makeshift refried bean chimichangas with enchilada sauce and they turned out pretty good.

We also had another district meeting and I did a companionship exchange with Elder Shull, who´s a new missionary from Ohio and had a good time talking with him. He was a pretty funny guy and we even got to teach another english class together but nobody had really showed up but it was fun.

Anyway, I don´t have a whole lot else to say, I´m just excited to see what Jacobina and my new companion have in store. I´m not too sure if I like the whole new system of transfering missionaries because I basically have to go home now and pack my bags but I´m pretty pumped. It´s kind of funny the feelings you get as you leave an area and go to the next one. You feel like you´re starting a new life all over again and it´s pretty weird but exciting at the same time. Elder Marim sure was a good guy and he´s gotten a lot better and I have no doubts he´ll do well without me and we´ll be sure to keep in touch every once in a while.

We don´t have a whole lot of time today because Elder Teasley and I wanted to go to a little tshirt store and make a custom distict tshirt as a little memory of this area so we´re going to have to go there now. Just want you all to know that I read all your letters and I´m happy to know you guys had a great week. Love you all and I´m excited to tell you about the week that´s about to happen. PS, 1 year 4 months!

Love,

Elder Skinner

Bad Guys End Up Winning

Carta Semanal:

Almost nothing has happened this week. Barreiras has been getting a TON of rain these past couple of days and it appears that every day I woke up last week, I woke up a little chilly, something I haven´t been used to for a long time.

Wednesday, we had a special mission broadcast for all the missionaries in the world and our zone all got together with two of the assistants to the president and they came to first watch one of our district meetings and it made me a little bit nervous to have a district meeting of instead of 6 to 12 missionaries. That day though it was pouring rain in Barreiras and downtown Barreiras had rivers in the streets so when we finally got to sit down and watch it, almost all of us were drenched from head to toe. Unfortunately, I couldn´t watch it in english though and for some reason, it was rather hard to piece things together. For some reason, it´s harder to understand when people dub over the voices and translate it than when you actually listen to someone actually saying the things. It´s not a question of understanding because I´ve gotten to the point where I can understand almost everything but at times it gets monotonous and hard to piece together all the sentences and make out the idea that they´re trying to say. They talked a lot about teaching faith and baptism and stuff like that which was pretty neat.

This is our last week of the transfer and we´ll be finding out who will be transfered next Sunday so I´m pretty anxious to find out what´s going to happen as it´s always a surprise and nothing happens like you think it will.

As I don´t have too much else to say, I would like to share a spiritual message that I noticed while I was reading the Book of Mormon (about halfway to finishing the book in Portuguese for the 2nd time, not to brag or anything hahah). In Alma 47, we learn of a man named Amalackiah who seeks to subjugate the Nephites and rule in wickedness. He wasn´t just one of your typical bad guys though who just wants to gain money and what not but we learn that he´s actually somewhat of a criminal mastermind who slowly gains more and more power through secret murders and all kinds of evil deeds. Verses 14-20 read:
 14 And it came to pass that Lehonti came down with his men and surrounded the men of Amalickiah, so that before they awoke at the dawn of day they were surrounded by the armies of Lehonti.
 15 And it came to pass that when they saw that they were surrounded, they pled with Amalickiah that he would suffer them to fall in with their brethren, that they might not be destroyed. Now this was the very thing which Amalickiah desired.
 16 And it came to pass that he delivered his men, contrary to the commands of the king. Now this was the thing that Amalickiah desired, that he might accomplish his designs in dethroning the king.
 17 Now it was the custom among the Lamanites, if their chief leader was killed, to appoint the second leader to be their chief leader.
 18 And it came to pass that Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died.
 19 Now, when Lehonti was dead, the Lamanites appointed Amalickiah to be their leader and their chief commander.
 20 And it came to pass that Amalickiah marched with his armies (for he had gained his desires) to the land of Nephi, to the city of Nephi, which was the chief city.

The Book of Mormon tells us that unfortunately, the bad guys end up winning at many times and achieve what they want at times, even though it isn´t fair. Something that I always supposed is that the guys that choose to follow God will ALWAYS win but there are several accounts that show to us that the righteous suffer so that their sufferings will stand as a testimony against the wicked in the last day (when Alma and Amuleque witness the fiery deaths of those who believed in God). But a promise we have in the scriptures is that if we keep God´s commandments, we will ´´prosper in the land´´.  Just a small little message I wanted to share with you guys. Love you all!

-Elder Skinner
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Molho Fraco

Carta Semanal:

Elder Teasley and I have started giving english classes in the church every Saturday from 18h to 19h and it´s been pretty cool! We´ve had two days already but our first one, nobody showed up because we didn´t plan much beforehand but two days ago, Elder Teasley and I grabbed a chalkboard and did a little activity with the members of the church that came. We just spoke english really slow and of course nobody ever understood anything but we let them say out loud in Portuguese what they thought it was that we were saying and everytime somebody nailed it, we would point at them. It had some elements of charades but it was really fun. It gets me pumped up for Saturdays.

Every monday before leaving to work on our pdays, we have a little house council to discuss how things are going between us 4 and we always make little updates and changes to best make sure that there is both justice and mercy in our house. One of the things that we updated with the whole dirty dishes things is that instead of a box of chocolates, that person has to buy a dozen bananas for each of us because Elder Teasley and I are only eating sugary things and what not on the weekends and pdays now and Elder Bacca and Elder Marim both ended up with 3 strikes and bought us a ton of bananas. But it´s finally starting to work. There aren´t any more dirty dishes being leftover night. I´ll show you the pictures of our joys with the bananas we got hahah.

Today we also played some basketball with some of the young men of the branch and had a 4v4. Elder Teasley and I went against each other but he actually plays basketball so I barely played better than the others did haha. It was fun though and I can tell that Eduardo also liked it as he went with us.

Can´t think of much else to say, but I feel like my letters are becoming ´´molho fraco´´ these days so I´ve been thinking about throwing in some more spiritual experiences and scriptures that happen each week. In a visit with Eduardo and his mom, we were about to leave when she asked us for a blessing of health to help her with some back pains she was having, which kind of made things a little awkward. Marjori, his mom, is a really nice lady who at one time was also having the missionary discussions but later stopped because she wasn´t progressing with stopping smoking and reading the Book of Mormon. So we explained it to her that the blessing will only work if she has faith and if it´s the Lord´s will and she accepted. We gave her the blessing and as soon as the blessing ended, she told us, ´´Thank you, Elders. My back pain is gone!´´ and I was amazed. Like it wasn´t anything serious but it was crazy because she was kind of complaining about the aching about how it was started to get really uncomfortable and then out of nowhere, it was just gone. Today after we played basketball, we returned Eduardo to his home and now she´s saying that she wants to quit smoking for good so Elder Marim and I are going to have to really focus on helping her because she´s tried so many times in the past and when she really has the desire, she can almost do it. Please pray for our success with her :)

 

Not too much else but I look forward to writing you all next week. 

Love you all!

-Elder Skinner

I Got Bit by a Dog

Weekly letterrrrr:

 

So after I had left the Lanhouse in 7 de Abril, Elder Keller and I went to the chapel were President Lisonbee was waiting to interview our zone. I was a little nervous not really knowing what to expect but having a general idea of what we´d talk about. It was good and he just asked how things were going, how Elder Marim is, how my health is and what not and we got to talking about the progress of the work here in Barreiras. Like I´ve said in past letters, whenever there´s interviews, it always leaves me with feelings of having to talk with your manager or something and even when you didn´t do something wrong, it always leaves you feeling nervous hahaha. But I enjoyed our talk. It felt a lot like talking to a concerned parent who wants to know how you´re doing. 

The leadership meeting was great and even when there isn´t ever anything truly noteworthy or mindblowing, it always leaves me thinking of ways that I can improve as a missionary and overall I just feel better. It was also cool because a lot of the great missionaries that I´ve already listed millions of times are also district leaders so I got to see Elder Ramírez, Elder Santana, Elder Adams, Elder Cerna and several others. One of the changes on the mission that saddened me is that President Lisonbee went to a meeting of some kind with Elder Oakes back home and apparently all missions won´t be having transfer meetings anymore and that we will be just going straight to our areas if we ever get transfered. We used to know Saturday nights, which gave us time to pack our bags and say goodbye to members/investigators but now it appears that we won´t be knowing until monday morning, with little time to do our bags and say goodbye to people. I was extremely sad because that means I won´t be able to say goodbye to Elder Cerna when he goes home in February or Elder Costa e Silva when he goes home in March. They´ll be the last companions that I´ve had that will go home before I will and I love those guys so much that it makes me sad not to be able to see them anymore. 

That monday when I was in Salvador, we had a companionship exchange and I was able to work with Elder Costa e Silva in Pernambués, his old area, which was awesome to be able to catch up and talk about our lives, family and such. Elder Costa e Silva´s a great guy and I was thrilled to be able to work with him for a few hours. 

Kind of random but yeah, before I heard the announcement about the leadership meeting, I had bought ingredients to make some homemade cheesecake and once I got home, I ended up making it and it turned out great. I´m going to be cooking like a beast when I get back, prepare yourselves. 

We got to talking about a funny story that happened several weeks ago when Elder Trindade was here. So there´s some twin girls in our branch that every once in a while make lunch for us and they have a small dog named Jeep probably almost twice the size of Lu-Lu that I don´t really know what breed it is but it looks like a weiner dog. Anyway, the dog gets super angry super easy and if you annoy him just a little bit, he will charge you and try to bite you. Elder Trindade thought it was super funny and at the end of our lunch with us leaving, him, Elder Marim and Elder Bacca started getting on his nerves but I kept telling them to leave the dog alone. I was already outside when all 3 of them come running out of the house with Jeep right behind them with me just standing there in front of the doorwar talking with one of the twins and apparently he must´ve seen that I was also in a white shirt and tie and decided to bit my ankle. Luckily, he didn´t bite too hard and all he managed to do was yank at my sock, but the other guys thought it was funny. He must´ve realized that I wasn´t trying to egg him on so he let me go almost immediately and chased after them. When his attempts to attack the others failed, he decided to have another go at me and when he got close, I lifted up my Book of Mormon as if to hit him with it and he booked it in the other direction. So yeah, I can now say that I got bit by a dog on my mission (kind of, not really). 

As far as work goes, things have been normal. Elder Marim and I haven´t been getting anyone to go to church and our teaching pool is basically nothing so we´ve been stepping up our game and talking with lots of people and teaching pretty much everyone as always. Sometimes it gets hard because I have a habit of trying to convince people instead of bearing my testimony and so at times, our messages aren´t super spirtual. After spending a year and so in Brazil though and hearing so many people trying to debate with us, my knowledge of the Bible has improved so I suppose that´s good but trying to convince people never works out in the end. Our zone is going to do a fast tomorrow that we may have success in finding people because our zone is the lowest in getting people to come to church. Hope all goes well. 

I love you all as always and thanks for reading!

-Elder Skinner

A Visit to 7 de Abril

Carta Semanal:

So as Elder Teasley I´m sure has told you, I wasn´t able to have my p-day yesterday because today (Tuesday) will be our pday and tomorrow we´ll be having a leadership meeting with all of the mission district leaders, zone leaders, assistants to the President and President Lisonbee. I don´t really know why we have to spend our pday here but it´s pretty neat. I´m here with Elder Keller who i had done a companionship exchange when I was still in Petrolina a while ago and it´s cool to spend a pday in Salvador. Right now I´m in the LAN house that I used to use when I was in 7 de Abril, but I just got a call from Elder Williams as I´m typing this that apparently I have to be in Cabula at 2pm to have an interview that he´s going to do with each missionary. Kind of sad that I´m not going to be able to see the members here in 7 de Abril but oh well. What´re ya gonna do.

The bus ride from Barreiras to here was safe and I pretty much sleeped throughout the trip. On our normal pday like you already know, I couldn´t write because Elder Keller and I were working in our area which turned out alright.

Not too much else to say, but my birthday was celebrated on the 2nd when Ronald surprised me with the other Elders. I kind of already knew what was happening when I saw them but Elder Bacca pretended that he needed to talk to me privately to vent about some stress and then out of nowhere when I was trying to comfort him, they bursted into the room and started singing happy birthday in English and we had some chocolate cake hahah. It was neat and I even decided to open up the presents I had gotten and I was super happy to get them all :) I would send you all pictures but I don´t have time at the moment because we have to run to Cabula here in a few.

New Years was great too but not a whole lot happened because we can´t do much as missionaries. We just went to Eduardo´s grandma´s house and had some dinner and mostly just spent some time with Eduardo. You can tell the kid loves us and I sure love the guy as well. It´ll be sad to have to leave when the time comes but he tells me that when I get home that we´ll keep in touch so it will be great. We had a curfew to be at home at 11pm as long as we had a ride home so we showed up at 11pm and just waited for the fireworks and what not to come. Our neighborhood was booming with music and it made it rather difficult to sleep and even when we all woke up at 6:30, the music was still going on. It was crazy but all of us still managed to sleep.

To everyone that wrote me that´s not just immediate family, I apologize for not being able to write (Zeak, Hayli, Elder Rivera, John and Kendra). Just want you guys to know i love you guys and miss you all! Hope the new years festivities were good as well and.. until we see each other next week!

-Elder Skinner

Stammering a Bit

O que aconteceu na semana?
(Carta Semanal)

Yeah, so we pretty much said everything in our Christmas conversation so I doubt I´ll have a lot to say today. Us 4 are doing well and nobody appears to be homesick or the like. Needless to say, everyone of us ended up having some teary eyes at the end of talking with our families hahah. Later that night, we returned to Eduardo´s house, had a family home evening and baked some gingerbread that I had made the night before at the christmas eve dinner but there wasn´t any time to bake and eat them. They turned out really good and everyone loved the gingerbread :) I made it using a recipe on a brazilian site so I had to bake something using a recipe in Portuguese, no big deal.

I suppose not much else to say.

Elder Teasley told me afterwards that every once in a while when I was talking to you guys on Skype, that I said a few funny things and my grammar was a little botched up so I thought that was pretty funny. I felt like at times I was speaking really fast and at other times, I was stammering a bit. I hope you guys were able to understand me and not get too annoyed or anything hahaha. I´m really enjoying Portuguese though. For our language studies, I like to sit down and study new words to know what to say in every moment and I find it really fun! I hope that when I get home I can study other languages as well.

I can´t remember much else but I´ll be sure to include any missed things in my next letter. Love you all!

Logan

Christmas Skype

Just a quick heads-up! We have a bit of time here in the Lanhouse to send photos, talk with President, and such. At 12, we´re going to have lunch with Joanita and it´ll probably take some time. I don´t know if I´ll be talking first because there´s only 2-3 devices in Ronald´s house. Expect me to talk to you guys between 14h and 16h or so (our time, subtract 4 hours).

Love you guys! :)