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| author | Collin Williams <96917990+bluedragon1221@users.noreply.github.com> | 2024-10-24 20:03:03 -0500 |
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| committer | Collin Williams <96917990+bluedragon1221@users.noreply.github.com> | 2024-10-24 20:03:03 -0500 |
| commit | 72685228a7aacd6daa44da3833ac2eaeb80d1e39 (patch) | |
| tree | e86bf47796f74a943fc810f89b36f100b799425e /md/20_Dans_Mission_in_Brazil.md | |
| parent | 46f8080b710fd4ece1f1eb56418888f8991fe27d (diff) | |
move some stuff around
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| -rw-r--r-- | md/20_Dans_Mission_in_Brazil.md | 200 |
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diff --git a/md/20_Dans_Mission_in_Brazil.md b/md/20_Dans_Mission_in_Brazil.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e512825 --- /dev/null +++ b/md/20_Dans_Mission_in_Brazil.md @@ -0,0 +1,200 @@ +--- +title: Dan's Mission in Brazil +--- + +It's been over 47 years since I left home to go preach the gospel in +Brazil. When it's been that long since a person has done something, it +has "old geezer" written all over it. I guess instead of avoiding the +truth I'll embrace my geezerhood and try to make the best of it.\ +\ +Back in those days when a young man started to plan for college and a +mission, you had to be 19 to even apply to go on a mission for the +church. I was only 17 when I graduated from Ridgefield High school, so +the only option was college. I attended one year at Clark Community +College in Vancouver and then a second year of university at BYU, +majoring in Electrical Engineering. During the summer of 1975, I decided +to take a 30 day desert survival course and then go on my mission. I had +already received my mission call to Brazil before leaving for the +deserts of Southern Utah.\ +\ +I believe it was late October when I entered the language training +mission (LTM). I stayed there for the next 4 months, learning the +missionary lessons and the Brazilian language. Normally, the time in the +LTM was only 2 months, but Brazil was very slow at approving our visas, +so we got an extra two months to learn the language as we waited for +Brazil to finish the paperwork. + +{width="5.697916666666667in" +height="3.7937412510936133in" alt=""} + +This is Allen Hall, where we lived. It was located on the lower campus +at BYU. The much bigger Missionary Training Center near the Provo temple +didn't exist yet. + +{width="5.75in" +height="3.828639545056868in" alt=""} + +This is my district of fellow Elders. We studied together for many hours +a day while the snow fell outside. + +{width="5.934569116360455in" +height="3.875in" alt=""} + +Elder Marcus, my first companion, is sitting beside me on our bunk bed. + +{width="6.007950568678915in" +height="4.020833333333333in" alt=""} + +Here, I'm trying out my gangsta door approach. It was eventually +abandoned as unlikely to be effective. + +{width="5.661654636920385in" +height="3.75in" alt=""} + +Another lighter moment just before lights out. Many of these elders had +not yet adjusted to wearing their garments at night. + +{width="5.72745406824147in" +height="3.8229166666666665in" alt=""} + +This is a farewell party for the Fonseca district. We were jealous +because they received their visas, but we were still marooned at the LTM +for a while. + +One memory I have of this time was the bitter-sweet experience of +spending Christmas at the LTM. I missed my family and President Lee, who +signed my mission call, passed away the day after Christmas. We sang a +lot of Christmas carols together and felt a wonderful spirit of serving +together in the LTM.\ +\ +When my visa was finally approved, I flew from Salt Lake City to Sao +Paolo, Brazil. I then flew to Porto Alegre and finally took a bus to my +first assignment in a city called Criciuma. I left Salt Lake City +wearing three white shirts because I didn't have room for them in my +suitcase. I arrived in Brazil in the middle of their summer. I thought I +was going to perish of heat exhaustion. + +{width="5.75in" +height="3.837965879265092in" alt=""} + +Here I am in the city of Criciuma. It was a smallish city out in the +country where most of the people were simple farmers. While there, my +district of elders went on a P-day trip to the catholic mission ruins of +Sao Miguel. + +{width="5.634399606299213in" +height="3.7708333333333335in" alt=""} + +Here are a few of us posing by the ruins. The guy on the right had a +special talent. He could say the entire pledge of allegiance with one +burp. It came in quite handy when knocking on doors. + +{width="5.682471566054243in" +height="3.8020833333333335in" alt=""} + +Here, I'm pretending to be a statue of a saint. + +{width="5.625in" +height="3.764542869641295in" alt=""} + +Now I'm practicing my Samuel the Lamanite approach. Fortunately, no one +was shooting arrows at me. + +{width="5.677083333333333in" +height="3.7999726596675414in" alt=""} + +Elder Webb was my first companion in Brazil. He taught me how to be an +awesome missionary. + +{width="5.479166666666667in" +height="8.047525153105862in" alt=""} + +I also served in a small city called Alegrete. Four of us lived in a +room we rented from this kind old lady and her son, who was somewhat +mentally retarded. They had a little dog who was loaded with fleas that +often ended up in my bed. + +My last city of service was Porto Alegre, a large and busy city of +nearly a million people. + +{width="6.211654636920385in" +height="4.114583333333333in" alt=""} + +My last companion was a native Brazilian named Edson de Marques. We +taught a young couple who were baptized shortly before I came home. + +{width="5.166666666666667in" +height="7.960839895013123in" alt=""} + +This is Elder de Marques with the young couple. His name was Ademir +Pinto Ribeiro and her name was Iara. Ademir is wearing an authentic +Brazilian pala that was made for me to bring home. + +In those days, missionaries were allowed to do some extra travelling on +the way back to their homes. I jumped at the chance to take about a week +to see some amazing sights on the way back to the USA. My travelling +companion and I made three main stops: Foz do Iguacu, a huge waterfall +at the border with Paraguay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Machu Picchu, +Peru. + +{width="6.431814304461942in" +height="4.260416666666667in" alt=""} + +I took this picture of Machu Picchu. It was amazing and worth every bit +of effort to travel there, but it caused some big worries in the end. + +For some reason I'll never understand, the airlines overbooked the +flights leaving the Peruvian city of Cuzco, near Machu Picchu. We missed +our flight to Lima and had to stay an extra day in Cuzco. The next day, +the Peruvian military flew us out in a paratrooper airplane. I remember +sitting in mesh netting seats holding a little tube for oxygen and +wondering if I would ever get home again. I missed the big welcome my +family had planned for me at the Portland airport and I couldn't even +get word to them about the delay. I arrived in Portland the next day +with 1 dime in my pocket and was picked up by just my mother. It wasn't +the big reception I could have had, but I was certainly glad to be back +home again.\ +\ +One of the last memories of my mission was of a sacrament meeting where +I was asked to speak in the Porto Alegre ward. After finishing my talk, +I sat down next to the stake president on the stand. He leaned over to +me and whispered in my ear, "Voce fala portugues melhor do que a maioria +dos brasileiros." Translated, this was, "You speak Portuguese better +than the majority of native Brazilians." I can't describe how amazing it +was to receive this complement from a highly educated Brazilian. +Although this was not my only goal for going to Brazil, I really enjoyed +learning a foreign language and I put a lot of effort into it. I read a +lot of Portuguese novels and comic books on my P-days and paid attention +to the native accent when I talked to the people there. This complement +took little effort to give, but made a huge difference in my life and my +own self-confidence. It is a great example of how a tiny bit of +thoughtfulness can lift someone else immeasurably. I have never +forgotten the complement and the power of giving them to those who +deserve it. |