Oct. 26, 2015 disappearing investigators and a rat

          Week 71

This week was rather frustrating. We had so much planned and scheduled, but all of our plans had fallen through. All of the people who we thought would let us come back weren´t at home to accept us. We called and scheduled and confirmed, but nothing. Our only investigators that were going to chuch dissappeared all of the sudden. We haven´t been able to get ahold of them for several weeks... 

One night, E. Nunes yelled really lot shouting, "rat!" We went to see, but we couldn´t find it. We soon found it inside the oven that we never use. It ran out of the oven and everyone was in a battle with the rat until we could capture it. While the rat was running, it ran right under Nunes´ foot and he stepped on it. He stepped a little too hard and it died under his foot... That was a first rat that I´ve encountered alive.

Elder Koby Sullivan

Oct. 19, 2015 15 minute notice to speak in church

          70 weeks

We have found some people who have potential to progress. I don´t have too much faith in them, but my companion is begging me to go back to them. I don´t want to go back because the father flat out said, "I disagree." But my companion thinks that he persuaded him otherwise.... Investigators that don´t want anything are not worth teaching. (That is what I told my companion).

We found one that was really cool. He was the only one who came to English class on Saturday. He is Baptist, but we just spoke in English for a little bit, then I taught him the Restoration. After I said the first vision, he asked me, "Who was that?" with astonishment. I drew everything out in detail and I taught in English :) I think that he will want more.

Well, last week, Elder Nunes was asked to give a talk in church. He was with another Elder in a different ward because his companion went home. So he told my companion to do it. My companion likes attention, so he gladly accepted it. However, he had already given a talk a few weeks before. When we got to church, the bishop asked why I didn´t give the talk, then asked me to give the talk. I couldn´t say no. So, I had to prepare a 15 minute talk at church... talk about nervous. In the end, it went pretty well. I was able to fill the time.

Elder Koby Sullivan

Oct. 13, 2015 one year and 4 months completed

          69 weeks... 1 year and 4 months

Our P-day was switched because of the holiday that they have here in Brazil. It is "Kid Day". there were a bunch of festivals and bouncy houses all over town. It was a little inconvenient becasue they told us that our p-day was switched to tuesday monday morning. So, we had nothing scheduled on monday, but we have a ton scheduled for today.... We basically don´t have a P-day.

We had a Multi-Zone conference this week. It went really well. It is always fun to hear the president give advice. It helps us understand how we need to work better and we get excited again about the work. 

Valkiria and Eduardo are going to be married in December. They don´t work, so they are going to get married for free, so that takes a lot of work off of our shoulders. 

We are still looking for people to teach. Everyone that we teach doesn´t do what we ask, so they can´t progress as an investigator. We have to let the those people on their way. President is starting to push everyone to do 500 contacts per week. We are already struggling with 300. It isn´t a rule yet, but I think in the future he will put it into play.

Elder Sullivan

Oct. 5, 2015 why shut off the water before you fix a sink?

         Week 68

Well. This week didn´t happen as planned. The only thing that seemed to go right was the English Class. (I have to thank Junior for helping me be able to teach english and learn all of the rules. Now I can have effective classes that won´t bore everyone out.) We had nobody the first week, then we had two people the second week, and now on the third week, we had 15! Maybe we can get something out of it :)

We literally found nobody this week. When I was giving up, I saw an old lady sweeping the sidewalk. I offered to help. After I was done I went to talk to her. What does she do? She tries to bible bash with me! She was at least 80 years old....I was thinking, "What are you trying to do? You have no idea what you´re saying." I didn´t even stay to bible bash. #Servicefail....

Our house is falling apart. I believe that our washing machine will break here in one week. Then, we will start washing our clothes by hand.... Our Kitchen sink broke, but we were able to fix it. We didn´t know where the water shut-off valve was, so there was a ton of water everywhere.

Elder Koby Sullivan

Sept. 29, 2015 lots of tracting

         Week 67

Well, this week didn´t have too much that when on.

We had an investigator who went to church. Her name is Valkiria. She is basically married to a member right now, so he took her to church. He is less active and he doesn´t want to go back unless she goes with him. It´ll be fun to bring her into the church.

We tried to do an open house with the church, but it didn´t turn out as planned. We had very few people enter. Maybe it was poorly advertized. I wish that it could´ve done better. 

My former companion, E. Nunes, is teaching me capoeira. Just on P-days because our house is really small. We have to move everything in the house just to do a little bit. It is a great work-out. I am basically just on the defensive side while he thows all sorts of things at me... folgado....

Other than that, tracting, and lot of it.

Elder Koby Sullivan

Sept. 21, 2015 a fruit getting baptized

         Week 66

This week went really well for me other than it was extremely hot and I felt dehydrated all day, even if I was drinking two cups of water at each house we knocked on. (I don´t know if that sentence made sense, but you get the idea.)

I went on splits with the DL and I learned a lot with him. He is on his last transfer, so he knows quite a bit. We found one lady who was curious about the baptisms for the dead. She called us crazy. A couple of days later, I went there with my normal companion and taught her why we do the baptisms. She understood pretty well. At the end, I asked, "Did that answer your question?" and she said, "yes, but now I have a lot more questions because I believed in one thing, but now...." I told her that the next time we would answer all of her questions. It was clear to me that she was doubting what she was taught all of her life. I felt really good with that lesson.

We have been teaching a girl who is 14. We invited her to baptism, but she doesn't want to follow our church because it is different. She said that even if it were the true church, she wouldn't follow. I have let her go as an investigator, but all of the members keep telling us to go back, so I guess I will go back in the future.

My English class didn't go well because nobody showed up....

We are teaching a really cool family that understood our message  well (which is really rare because the people aren't too educated here.). However, it is a family that is very unprepared for the baptism. They are not married, the father smokes a lot and the daughters have a horrible problem with the 7th commandment...We'll try our best.

I just heard from my other area that Nicole (the one who smokes weed) will be baptized this week! Elder Nunes and I are really excited because she is our "fruit"!

Sweet.

Elder Koby Sullivan

Sept. 14, 2015 rain, finally!

          Week 65

I am now used to my area. It doesn´t seem as ghetto as I thought it was, but it is full of random churches. We know when the house has a pastor of a church when there is a church on the side and the house is bigger than the others...

I have learned that my area actually has a part of Campinas. We work on the borderline and the ward crosses that borderline. 

Our house is really small and old. I am sleeping on a broken bed, we don´t have a microwave, and I don´t have a table to study...I guess it is kind of fun....:P 

(the screws at the corner of my bed have been ripped out and the frame below is broken. I sleep crooked. Until now, I don´t have problems with my back.) 

Until now, we don´t have any Investigators, but we are trying to do our best to find people. Sadly, is has been pouring rain for the past couple of days, so the work was a ton harder. However, the members are trying to help the best they can. I have not been through an area with so much help from the members. 

Boa semana.

Elder Koby Sullivan

How are the shoes that Kyson sent you holding up in the rain?

The shoes are doing really well in the rain. Better than the other ones. At Patricia´s baptism, someone had filled up the tank, but I didn't see because the water was so still. I stepped into the water! Only a little bit of water came in from the top! So, I know that they are pretty waterproof.

Sept. 9, 2015 Brasil Independence day, got transferred, but stayed in the same house

         Week 64.....Where am I?

So, we had our P-day switched to Wednesday this week because of the holiday on Monday. 

We had transfers this week. It was really interesting. E. Figueira, Nunes, and I were all transfered to Sumaré!

They closed my area. We all live in the same house still....Nunes and Figueira are now companions and I have a new companion named, Elder Maia. He is from Goiana, Brazil. We are working in a part called Matão. It is extremely close to Campinas, which is another mission. It is so close that if I catch the wrong bus, then I will end up on another mission. The city is extremely poor. This is what we call a "Favela".

We had an awesome time with Junior when he took us out to eat at an american food restaurant. I got an awesome burger!

We were able to bring a family to church! Their names are Marcelo and Kelly. They really like the visits and they really liked the idea of an eternal family. We were about to have a baptismal date for them, but we are now transfered. We left it with the other Elders now. 

We also have a baptismal date for Adilson and Albertina. We had to remark them both to the 26. We are going to be able to visit the baptism.

Elder Koby Sullivan


exercising with Junior's dogs

hair cut

Koby teaching an English class.

Two Sullivan's.

Last dinner together before transfers.

pday a few weeks ago. Mom just wanted to make sure it got posted.

Aug. 31, 2015 she forgot her own baptism

          Week 63

It was raining this week, so that made the week a lot more interesting. I think it was more interesting because everyone´s umbrella broke... We were able to bare it though.

I ate some sushi for the first time. Our good friend Jun took us out to dinner. I didn't think that I would like the sushi, but he got the salmon and I ate a ton. I really enjoyed the Japanese food. I am also pro with chop-sticks now :)

We found some good investigators this week. We met a man named Vir. He is by far the richest investigator that I have had. He is about 40-50 years old and he is retired. He seems really interested in the BOM. 

We also found a family of five. We taught the Restauration. She told us some stories about why she doesn't like her religion and she has called a leader in that religion a false prophet, so she doesn't know who to trust. We asked her what would change in her life if she were to know that the BOM was true and she said that everything would change. She even called us the other day because she was really scared of a payment that she couldn't handle, so she has a lot of trust in us.

Patricia (julio's wife) is the newest member of the Piracicaba 2nd ward!!! I have never seen so much cake at a baptism! It was great. I called Julio the baptism to see where they were at. Well, he told me that they had forgotten about the baptism and that they were in another city. My heart dropped... He showed up one minute after.

He pulled another joke with her confirmation. He said that he forgot that the confirmation was on the day after and that he was with family. My heart fell again, but while we were still on the phone, their son came running out from the other side of the church. That was a huge relief!

Boa Semana!

Elder Koby Sullivan

Patricia´s baptism!

for Barbacues we eat this. 

(Julio)

​Sight seeing.

​River

Aug. 24, 2015 a good week

         Week 62

My companion and I decided to really kick it into gear. We have started to go to another part of our area and we have to take the bus to get there. It is having some awesome results. 

Note to the Pastors: If you are going to try to teach a missionary, please teach them something that will maybe change their life. Don't go talking about a deep doctrine that you learned in your personal study. Nothing you talk about makes sense. I have had way too many this week trying to teach me about the book of Revelation and they don't even know what they are talking about. Yes, I do know several things in the Bible that you don't know. Don't tell me that you know everything. 

I have knocked on a ton of doors. This week all of the pastors decided to show up. One of them tried to convince me that he was a prophet....I asked him is he had seen God. His response, "Yes. Well....no. But I'm not a prophet like from the Bible..." Then you already know that you are a fake. Tchau!

We knocked on a crazy person's door. She started to talk about why the Mormon church is bad. We saw that she had been badly misinformed. We said bye and we started to leave in a quick pace. Well, she got out of her house and started to chase us down the street to tell us more! We told her we would come back another day...

Albe has a smoking problem, but I've seen a lot worse. I think she can stop in a little bit of time. Adi has no problems stopping him from being baptized and we have the 5th marked. Everytime we leave their house, we leave happy :)

Bru has accepted baptism for the 5th. He is the easiest person to teach. While we are teaching, he takes the words right out of our mouth and says, "I've already studied that part." haha!

I love those moments when the person learns something and accepts it. We taught a couple the other day who asked, "I'm Gospelic and she is Catholic. What makes your religion so different?" .... I'm glad you asked... We taught the Restoration and he said, "You answered my question." :P

His name is Mar.

It was a good week and we are excited for Pat's Baptism on Saturday!

Elder Koby Sullivan