Outubro 16, 2012 "1/16, 155, 3, 7"

It has been such a crazy good week.  It feels like I’ve been here forever, and like I arrived at the CTM yesterday.  It’s weird, but good.  I’m done, as of today, with a sixteenth of my mission--my first “transfer” period.  So crazy.  So good.  I’ve reached my goal of weighing 155 pounds!  And I still have 3 more weeks to go.  Yep, I’m a happy man. J  I received seven letters this week.  Thank you Mom, Grandma, Uncle Mark (two letters) Taylor Ashby, Laura Williams and Sara Bass!  You guys are great and I sent stuff out today to y’all.  And three Books of Mormon were placed by our district last week on P-day--such cool experiences talking about the church in broken Português.  It is such a tender mercy, a miracle, how fast we are learning.  I don’t know a lot, but I know a ton more than I did a few weeks ago. For our last TRC teaching, Elder Barton and I killed it!  We dominated! J It was so good.  Now we get to be investigators for Blue Dots (the new guys). 

Some things that happened this week:  I did an English fast on Wednesday.  It was good and hard--I learned a lot.  It has been stormy all week (but I love the weather here).  I’m understanding  a lot about English grammar as I study Português.  I had to write a talk on baptism in Português —just in case I was called to speak in church.  I wasn’t, but it was really hard to write a Português discourse!  The workshops we have at night have been really good practice to help people and not teach lessons. Also, to help with our Português, Elder Barton, our Brazilian roommate Elder J. Pereira and I read aloud in the Livro de Mormon.  It’s really good for my pronunciation.

Elder David Bean with Elder Mike Oaks

Two last things:  1) we had a “baptism!”  Our ”investigator” Evandro is preparing for baptism, so in our last lesson, Elder Barton and I invited him to come to the baptism of someone else, just to see what it entailed.  He agreed, and then our instructor said we actually needed to put on a “baptism” for him!  HAHA!  So out district leader was the “bishop,” we “baptized” another elder, and another sister and I gave “talks.”  It was actually a really cool experience.  2) Elder Mike Oaks left today for Curitiba.  It was hard saying goodbye, but he’s gonna be a great missionary. J I gave him a hug to give Elder Andrew Woodruff for me.  It’s so legit we are in Brasil.  Wow. 

            God is good.  His work is everything!  Shall we not go on in so great a cause? J Peace be with you.  You’re in my prayers.  Love, Elder David Bean

Oct. 9, 2012 Dezoita (18) & Dezenove (19)!!!

Outubro 09, 2012 

Dezoito e Dezenove!!!   

Oh, my gosh.  Yes, I started to tear when the prophet announced the new ages permitted for missionary service J  So legit.  I was so happy/excited for all those that this change in policy could possibly affect!  Bao, Emily, Maren, Danny, Jared, Nick, Clinton—y’all better write me if this means you’re going out sooner or stuff!  J So crazy awesome.

It was a testimony to me that we have a living prophet who continues to receive guidance from God.  I’m so excited for this new, next, younger generation.  Prepare now!  J  So yeah.  The entire Conference session was probably the best thing ever!  So good, such great inspired instruction.  And Elder Holland is the man. 

So, this week has been another great one.  It started off by getting some amazing Brazilian candy (I decided to ask the store clerk what was good and she showed me all the good stuff, best of which are these toffees with passion-fruit cream in the middle... oh yeah), eating fish for dinner (anytime we get fish, I seriously consider bawling out of gratitude... haha okay I don’t, but it makes me really happy), and welcoming Elder Nelson Shawcroft here!  J  That is so cool that there are three friends of mine here.  Crazy awesome.  Thank you, as always, to the wonderful letter writers!  It is THE BEST thing to receive and respond to ya’ll, so thanks Mom, Jonathan, Emily, and Parker Frost!  I really appreciate it. J
          My teachers are super good, the language is super hard, but coming (understanding is way harder than speaking for me, and vise-versa for my companion... we work well together), J and the meatloaf is super dense!  Ohhh my gosh!  J  haha.  Our district is progressing and I keep starting deep gospel discussions which is SO great!  We all become uplifted.  My companion is great.  Sometimes it’s hard to accept his criticism, but as I try to humble myself and look inward, I’m grateful for his desire to help.  He is a great example of courage and humility himself, and it’s great to learn from him.  We both taught a GREAT TRC this week!  One of our “investigators” was Elder Mike Oaks! J  We did really well and felt exactly where the lesson should go.  The only criticism our instructor could give us was “Elder Bean, you said ver instead of vir!”  haha.  I said “Our purpose as missionaries was to help people to SEE Christ,” instead of COME unto Christ.  J But yeah, it went very well.  And Elder Mike Oaks gave me some really good feedback.  Speaking of feedback, WE GOT NEW ROOMMATES!! J  Now, no one can fill the hole left by Elder C. Santos and Elder Arf da Silva etc, but these guys are way friendly and legit.  Elder Periera is from Sao Paulo and Elder Castillo is from Chile.  So we have one Brazilian, one Chilean, and four very confused gringos haha. J  But they’re really helping us with our Portuguese, and we help teach them a little English (by the way, if you need a good laugh, make a Brazilian try to say “Truthful squirrels!!!” J)  

I learned the first vision in Portuguese this week, got an interview with my Branch President, President Barreto, and we had perfect makings for the panini sandwiches we eat every morning for breakfast! J  So good.  Random piece of advice: “Never cease to be reliable!”  And, here’s a shout out to my awesome twin, who is starting her mission papers!  Love you!  And good luck!  Last thing that happened this week, on Monday, Irmao Viana taught this hard grammar lesson, but... I understood it!! J  It made me so happy and optimistic cause, it’s starting to click!  Haha. I guess, though, I got a big head.  That evening, my district and I were “investigators” for Brazilian missionaries!  Super hard/intimidating, right?  Well, to make it worse, there were too many “investigators,” thus causing the instructor to pick ME to leave my struggling American comrades, and be in another room BY MYSELF! J  Yep.  I pretty much just accepted the shame, as I could hardly understand a thing, and they [the Brazilian missionaries] had had to repeat almost everything twice.  But it was more funny than depressing, haha!  Definitely a reality check, though. 

Hey, I know God loves us and helps us accomplish all our righteous endeavors.  J  May God be with you.

Love ya’ll much,
Elder David Bean

Oct 2, 2012 MTC: Halfway Gone!

Oi Familia e Amigos!

This week has been so great.  So much better than last week.  The language is coming better, I’m understanding way more, and when we teach lessons, I don’t need to use any language-cheat sheets!  I just walk in with my scriptures and converse and teach.  So good.  At our TRC on Friday, the missionaries pretending to be investigators were focused, not goofing off, and so we were able to teach better, and thus got really good feedback.  Too often the missionaries treat TRC like a joke and don’t role-play well.  But this week was good, and we were able to learn so much about our teaching/language abilities. And, more good news, all of our other "investigators" are progressing really well!  Elder Barton and I are really teaching well together.  So guess what?  One of my favorite instructors here looks like (kind of) and is like a Brazilian Chris Phipps!  J  Legal.  Brazilians are so friendly here. 

Our roommates left today—that was rough.  I love them so much and wish them the best as they serve the people of Londrina.  So good.  It was really sad when we woke up at 3am to say goodbye, but also really happy.  Great men of God. 



Elder Bean and Elder Santos

And Elder Santos invited me to his wedding in two years!  J  It’s crazy ’cause many Brazilian missionaries are engaged!! 

Okay, some more random things:

1)  P-Day last week was the best!  We went to an all-you-can-eat restaurant, like Tucanos, way cheap, so delicious...J especially the chicken hearts!  Later, we picked up the handmade leather scripture cases we all ordered from this guy on the street.  He burns designs into the leather, and it looks crazy cool!  J  I’ll send a picture today.  And lastly, I bought a Passion Fruit Fanta!  Best thing ever.  That was such a good day.
2) Brazilians don’t have/know about the candy Pop-Rocks, and it is so funny to watch them try it!  They like it too! 
3) I have run into another friend/person I’ve known pre-mission here at the CTM:  Elder Fletcher Harrison!  We were in the same group at BYU’s FOL [Foundations of Leadership] last summer just before entering the Y!  J  Legal!
4) I love helping out/giving my little bit of advice to the new “blue dots” every week.  I remember how lost I felt my first week, so it’s easy for me to reach out.

5) One of the Elders in my district is a hardcore gymnast, and he’s helping me during gym to get “Bombardo!” J  I’ve gained almost 15 pounds, and it’s also all muscle.  Yeah, legit.  Haha.
6) The Elders and the Sisters here prepared and performed a musical number for the devotional on Sunday.  We elders sang “Rise Up O Men of God,” and I was asked to conduct!  J  So cool—good memories: Timpview Band, I love you!  The sisters then sang this really pretty song about helping the people around you.  It was very well done and very spiritual.  I couldn’t help thinking how cool it is that they are all serving.  Thank you, Mom, for your example in serving the Lord! J 
7) We are all progressing in the language; light bulbs are beginning to turn on!  One of our teachers, Irmao Viana, always brings “The Tie of Shame!” for those that speak English during class.  It’s this nasty, dirty, pink tie that’s falling apart.  SO funny.  We learned from Irmao Ricardo how to sing “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” in Portuguese.  And it was Irmao Viana’s Birthday yesterday, so before he arrived, we spread candy around (including Pop-Rocks, so hilarious!), and wrote Birthday stuff on the white board. I logged onto the computer in our classroom, brought up the “Birthday Celebration” for President Monson, and cued it so that when Irmao Viana walked in, the MoTab Choir was blasting super loud, singing Happy Birthday!  So awesome.  We made his day.  J
8) Lastly, we had two fasts this week: regular Sunday fast, and an English fast.  Fast Sunday was so meaningful ’cause if anyone has stuff to fast for, it’s me, and our English fast helped all of us a lot.  It also taught me that even if I don’t (yet), the Holy Ghost speaks Portuguese!  J 
Life is great, I love you all.  Write me!  Thank you to all of you who have sent letters recently:  my familia, Maren Young, Rosemary Merrill, Rachel Peterson, and Miriam Blaser. Thanks for writing.

God be with you.
Love,

Elder David Bean