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

Sept 25 2012 "Let it come, let it go!"

Hey ya’ll!  J  

It has been a crazy week this week.  Major ups and downs.  I’ll start with the temperature.  Ohhh my gosh! (ß yes, I was quoting Ashley) The first part of the week was SO hot.  The worst I have ever experienced.  It reminded me of the marching band competition where the blizzard came in, only instead of snow, it’s heat.  Muito loco quente.  But then, the last few days it has rained and rained, making it so wonderfully cool at night and beautiful in the morning (cause it washes the smog out of the air.)  The rain was also comforting to me 'cause I relate rain with fresh starts, and this week had some really rough days.  So it was a good reminder that tomorrow is another day, and I just need to do my best and keep on "keeping on."  In the moment though, it’s hard.

We got a new instructor named Irmao Ricardo.  He will only speak Portuguese to us, and it’s helping us learn a lot.  I already love him.  He reminds me a lot of Brother Koyle, Matthew Woodruff, and Shea Gibbons.  We also have more “investigators.”  It is really cool during study time to forget what I want to study for myself, and just focus on what will help the investigator’s needs.  I get frustrated though ’cause I know what the people need to hear, but I lack the language to help them. Argg!  I run out my woes on the track at gym time.  I just need to accept that the language will come.  Eventually.  J  We are making flashcards and that is helping a lot with the verbs.  And, despite feeling inadequate, and slow, sometimes we taught a really great teach (through the Training Resource Center)!  It went really well. Elder Barton and I are working way better as a team.  It’s great. And I recently discovered the beauty of two-word future conjugations!  J 

We got a new Elder last week.  His name is Elder Boam.  He didn’t get his Visa in time, so he spent the first two weeks in Provo.  He looks EXACTLY like Shane and Nathan McQuarrie’s brother!  J  We are now super good friends with our Brazilian roommates!  I’m at the point where I can talk with them about deep/special stuff.  It’s good.  Elder Santos calls me and Elder Barton “his amigos.”  J He always makes me happy after a hard day. They leave in one week. We’re gonna miss each other, but I got Elder Santos' address.  

On Sunday, we watched the Joseph Smith movie: Prophet of the Restoration.  It was SO great.  Really good for my testimony and adds to my excitement to preach the gospel. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?  God is so good to me, to all of us who are already apart of His fold.  May we strive to open our mouths when the opportunities arise.  Ah man.  I love it here.  P-Days are gold, but the rest of the week is good, too. J  I pray for ya’ll all the time! 

Love you so much!  Time is flying!  J
Love,
Elder David K. Bean

Sept 18, 2012 "Oi! Eu vivo!"

Oi!  Eu vivo!  [Hi!  I live!]

(First thing, I’m not allowed to receive packages here at the CTM, so wait till I’m at the mission home in mid-November and later.) 

Thank you so much to Elder Andrew Woodruff, Ashley Moody, Laura Williams, and meu mai for your letters!  J  They make me so happy, and I sent responses to ya’ll today!  This week went by SO fast.  Oh my.  It seriously was yesterday I was writing on my first P-day.  I’m learning more and more, not just Portuguese, but the simple purposes of missionary work.  I love it here, I can’t stress that enough.  I am so happy.  J  We’re learning more and more, and getting better at teaching.  We’ve been teaching our first “investigator,” his name is William.  He was having problems at first accepting the gospel as the one true church and a true prophet, but we helped him a lot.  He’s now committed to be baptized, and he believes in the Book of Mormon and in the Restoration, and so we’re pretty much done teaching him. *insert fist pump!* Success.  And we’ll get a new “investigator” tomorrow.  We also had our first TRC (Training Resource Center) where we teach other missionaries pretending to be investigators.  We also get recorded and receive feedback after watching ourselves teach.  It was really good, especially for being our first one.  We’ll do another one next week.

Our district is growing closer and becoming better friends.  Elder Lowe is our district leader and he is doing great things.  He’s taking charge and helping us make/reach our goals.  It’s great.  One thing we do to cope when we get overwhelmed is we have had a testimony meeting every week.  A mission is hard work, but it’s all worth it.  We are striving to focus more and work harder.

Yesterday was Sunday, and we all had to prepare talks on the Restoration, ’cause the branch president will randomly choose the speakers during the meeting.  I prepared a talk about following Joseph Smith’s pattern of receiving answers and stuff.  I wasn’t asked to speak, but it was good for me to write.  The Elders that did speak gave great talks.  Also, our district had to do a musical number, and I got to conduct/arrange/head that up.  It was Sweet Hour of Prayer. It went very well, and we sang it in Portuguese!  Which, by the way, I am understanding more and more! J  I had a Portuguese dream which was super exciting!  They say that’s a big step.  Okay, so this letter is really scatterbrained! 

So some more random stuff;

1) My new English scriptures have a printing mistake, the Book of Matthew chapters 4 to the end are missing.  I know I need the Book of Matthew, and that I’m not allowed packages here, so...we’ll work it out later.

2) I’m making great friends with the Brazilians!  J  It’s so cool.  “Molho de legal!”  And my best friend taught me a sick awesome way to tie a tie. 

3) We got Brazilian roommates!  At the beginning of last week.  Two of them.  One is very quiet.  I think I’ve heard him speak a total of five words.  But the other tries to talk to us.  At first, I think they hated us for being so gringo, but now we are way good friends.  There is still a language barrier, but we’re teaching each other.  The one guy knows and loves pretty much every band I love.  So cool!  We sang together Goo Goo Dolls, Lifehouse, Train, Jason Mraz, etc. It was so surreal.  Music really is a Universal language.  And!  This Brazilian roommate says I’m way good at pronunciation. 

4) I fall asleep sometimes at the weirdest moments and the other elders think it is SO funny.  Haha  It is.  J

5) I got a haircut today and it looks so good!

6) Driving home from the temple is special because we drive through my area here in Sao Paolo Norte.  It’s our turf!  Our people!  Our responsibility to help as many of the thousands and thousands of people that pass us as I can.  It’s a little daunting, but way exciting too! 
7) I have seen God’s hand here, helping me in so many ways already.  He is SO mindful of us and He loves us so much.  Stay strong, write if you can, it’s the best, serve God, have faith.

Love you all,

Elder David Bean

Elders Woodruff and Bean in front of the Sao Paulo Temple Sept 18, 2012

David and Matthew have been friends since grade school.  Now, as missionaries serving in Brazil, they  stand outside the Sao Paulo Temple.  What joy for these two brethren!

P.S.  AHH MAN!!! J  This is a last minute addition: at the temple just now I saw, embraced, and talked with Elder Matthew Woodruff!!! J  God is good.  Elder Woodruff looks so great, he’s really happy. *  I can’t believe how much God loves me.  I saw Matthew here in Brazil!  We were in different sessions, but we talked in the Celestial Room and after.  Ah man! J What a tender mercy.  I don’t even know what else to say.  Only tears can express how I feel.  Love you Matthew.  YAHOOOO!!!

*And I had the feeling to bring my camera to the temple, and now I know why.

More photos from Week One in Brazil

Elder Bean and other new missionaries at the Sao Paulo airport Sept 5, 2012

Elder Bean and 4 other new missionaries  Sept 5, 2012

Sao Paulo is one of the most populated cities in the world.

Evening view of Sao Paulo

Morning dawns in Sao Paulo

Some of Elder David Bean's first photos in Brazil

This is a picture of Delta's online flight tracker.  If you look carefully, you can see Elder Bean's reflection of his camera as he took this picture.  Time left:  0:00  The flight had just arrived in Sao Paulo!

Elder Bean's first view of Brazil--from the window of the plane.