Monday, November 26, 2012 - A Great Joke

Lets start this week out with a Joke!

So the husband comes home after a long day at work and sees the clock has fallen off of the wall so he just walks on by and goes to get something to eat. His wife walks in just as he had sat down to have a glass of milk and a cookie when his wife says, "you will never guess what happened today! I got home and your mom was coming to help me with the groceries and that studpid clock of yours that doesnt even  work correctly fell off the wall and almost hit her on the head! Can you believe that?" Only to have the husband respond, "That stupid clock is always late!" :D

For any of you that need this joke to be re-explained just ask someone else! You should always share, becuase it is the 1st and greatest commandment of the Kingdom of God and a good joke should never go unshared!

This week was a good week! Lots of sun and little rain and it feels like a Desert Summer! The only difficult part was that this week I had the Sisters of the Ward try to stuff me and not the Turkey! It worked! I mean we had lunch with a Sister who is totally awesome but just is sick of the incomodating people in the world but I will tell you what,  She Knows How to Fill a BOWL with ice cream and fruit! I mean it was like the size of my head and here it is mandated that you eat two of them  so I did and man she knew how to fill a bowl full of ice cream a second time even fuller than the 1st! For the first time in my life I was almost sure that I would drowned! you cant swim your way out if you drowned from the inside out!

Then on Sunday we have this married couple who are older and the Husband wants to adopt me because he likes me a lot and so we are trying to get him to be baptized but it is difficult! We had a barbecue with them on Sunday and well can I just say that 5 kilos of meat and 4 old people and 2 missionaries gives you a stomach ache! Their moto at the dinner table is that nothing is left over! Needless to say  it became a little difficult but we accomplished the challenge and I didnt even gain a single pound this week. Luckily this next week should be alittle more sparse. 

I think that this week I talked to more than 200 families and it is always amazing to see how people dont know how to answer a question. They only want to talk about what they want to talk about. The other thing I love is when people say, " that is not in my Bible,"  "I know Jesus Christ and only he can save me,"  "why do you want to complicate the simple things that Christ gave us to do," and my personal favorite, "I have already accepted Christ in my life, I have the Holy Ghost with me constantly and Christ will save me no matter the cost." This last phrase is usually uttered jsut before they light up a cigarrete or take a swig of the beer in their hand! Yet they dont want to listen, they dont want to hear and all you want  to do is help. Yet you cant! How many times has our heavenly father tried to help us and we chose not to accept?

This week I had a cool experience. We had left to make a visit with a Sister of the Ward and well as usually our marked appointment wasnt at home! But it just so happened that I had said, hi, to two teenagers on the street and they came running around the corner just after we had finished discovering that the lady we had planned to visit wasnt at home. Only to find out that one of the kids was a member of the church who had just recently moved here to our area and he and his brother wanted to keep going to church because they love the church! The oldest one is not baptized and I think he will be baptized quickly and the parents arent members so lets see if we can get them too!

Oh and another interesting event happened. For some reason drunk people love the missionaries and love to introduce us to their families. One night we were headed home and it was already 9 at night and this drunk guy come bounces accross the street slurring, I am a mormon too! All I though was OH BOY! Here we go again. Well he came up and hugged me and started to lead me into his house to have dinner! He was so drunk that his breathe was pure alcohol! Finally after not being able to pass him without having to shove him to the ground I accepted and talked him into just a glass of water and to meet his family! It turns out that his son is a member and wants to return to the church and his friend wants to know about the church so there you have it everybody! The Lord can work miracles for His children in any circumstance!

The weeks to come should be full of great stories so feel free to forward them or share them with whomever you may.

Love you all and  dont be a turkey! Seek for Christ and His Holy Spirit, especially as we prepare for this wonderful time of year and celebrate all that Christ has given!

Elder Hendrixson!

Monday, November 19, 2012 - Raising the Bar and Stuffin the Bird

Well this week has been a great week because I recieved a wonderful piece of news that our President now wants us to have 30 conversations about the Gospel everyday! That is a freaking lot especially when the person just tells you to bugger off cause he is sitting there on his porch with nothing to do and he tells you that he is just about to leave. Then you go to the next house and you can see their freaking steel wool hair sitting there on the couch and they just ignore you like you are a barking dog and then the next and the next and the next. Pretty much but we had a lot of great conversations that resulted in those people who actually want to hear abut the gospel and then after all the bad experiences your heart soares and you are jsut super happy to talk to the person.

Last night I had a realization that only people who are truly happy would walk for 30 minutes straight and give a salutation to all of those people with a smile in your path after walking all day in the sun, rain and talking to a bunch of badly mannered people. The Lord I think finally prepared a way for a house for us to move intoand stop sleeping on the flooor and sharing a fridge that is 3´for1 1/2´ for 4 Elders. THe thing is stuffed! Then this week was tough because the grass is always greener on the other side! THe other two Elders stayed in the house all week because one of them has the Chicken Pox! Yup so they were bumming around in the house relaxing in my hammock and I was working. Not to mention they couldnt leave to buy groceries so my cold milk and water started dissapearing and let me tell you when you come home after sweating your butt off all day you want something cold and when you go to grab it and it is not there you get a little peaved! I mean I only ask that you ask or tell me that you used it so I dont have this expectation and then its not there! That is the worst! Other than that the week was great! I mean I would rather be working than trapped in the house! A few days would be nice but only to have a holiday but really working is oh so much better!

Well to all of youthat are in the STates! Have fun stuffing the bird and your faces! My thanksgiving with be bean and rice and this little filet of beef that is cooked until it is shoe leather because that is how the Brazilian like it! Yet the beans and rice are always yummy and eating is not for pleasure, right?

Miss you and have a great Thanksgiving and I will too!

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, November 12, 2012 - Who's Up For Round 3?

Yup that is right my family and Friends I am up for round 3 of training a noob! His name is Elder Hermilio Dos Santos Mota who is from Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil! Yup he is 22 years old and he is engaged to a girl he met when he had 16 years of age and it has only been her since then! We get along really well already because he has a life and likes to make jokes and to just be a fun person all around and to play soccer. He almost went professional but he blew out his knee! He was baptized with 9 years of age and he is the second person in his family to serve a mission. WE worked our tails off this week and it was in the rain. No it was not the kinda joke that we get in St. George we are talking who turned on the freaking shower! You end the day and no matter how water proof your shoes are it just doesn't cut it when gravity comes into play and it starts from the knee then to the ankle and all the way until it reaches the end of your toes! What Fun!!!! Anyways he made a lot of progress this week and we will make even more this week and we will be a contact making machine! I can see that good things are to come with these coming six weeks! The Lord has big plans I can just feel it! So keep up the prayers please! I could use all the help I can get!

As for some funny things that happened this week! We had a junk food night before transfers and well lets just say one Sister in the ward gave us this cake and I had to spit it out after I ate it because she had soaked it in what tasted like skittles liquid with a choclate covering. I hate to say it but it is still in the fridge to this day and well skittles and chocolate just don't go together! Then the very next day we got back to the bus terminal - I forgot to inform you all that I have turned into a bugs bunny and eat one big carrot everday about 9:15 in the morning and all the Elders just laugh at me - so when a bum came along the sidewalk seeing all the Elders and Sisters dressed and fancy of course he thinks of asking for food and well I had happened to pull out my carrots because of course I brought one for my new companion! He didn't want it and so I gave the bum a CARROT! He walked away shaking his head and seeming a little bit dissatisfied but eating the carrot all the same and yes all the Elders laughed at me but I asked which one of them had helped someone today? :P

Also it just so happened that socks in the mission last for 11 months but they become more like an iron grid without any fluff and its just more like a protective layer. how did I find this out? Well I had only been using 8 pairs and they started loosing color so I grabbled my other 10 pairs from the Mission Home and started wearing those! WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! They were so soft and comfortable, weird, but hey in the mission it is all about the small pleasures!

Other than that this week was full of miracles but specifically one that stood out. WE were knocking doors in the rain and well this guy came out and started talking to us like he was a member. Well it turns out he had been a member since he was 15 years old and fell away at 18 because of problems with the doctrine of the church and just didnt find his response. This guy wasn't even on the radar and we found him because of a long day of knocking and not finding!!! The Lord works miracles but first comes the trial of faith! (Ether 12:6).

Love you all and wish you the best week! Keep your heads up and keep smiling!

Love, Loyalness, and Faith is a good recipe for being like Christ but none of it is worth anything without the Priesthood being restored for us in these Latter Days!

Elder HendriXson!!

Monday, November 5, 2012 - Transfers!

Hey Everyone!

This week is transfers and well let's just say that I am not happy at all . . . my companion and I have gotten to be super close and he has learned a ton this transfer. He made a huge effort in not being so timid, I mean being timid around me is a little hard! Plus he got to be really good at the basics because I learned from all my family that if you keep beating eventually you get to where you need to be and changing tactics is great too.

My companion figured out finally that I am just a box of surprises! He is always leaving lessons and we talk and he is always telling me, "You know, I just never know from which direction you are going to come." Then he goes on to say that he is gonna miss having me for a companion and well of course I never have let him know that I am truly gonna miss the guy, cause I wouldn't be Elder Hendrixson. ;) Shhhhhhh, but I really am going to miss the guy a lot. We had a heck of a lot of fun together and we worked hard but he still has a lot of lessons to learn from his next trainers. Now we will just have to see who exactly my next companion will be.  The interesting part is that I have never had a steady companion. I seem to always be recieving new ones! I mean this will be my 6th companion in 11 months! 

This week was a really tough week for us becuase we just seemed to absolutely suffer until Sunday. I mean I talked to a lot of people but no one for the life of them wanted to listen! I mean they were just down right rude and my patience was wearing super thin and I just wanted to be straight up with people and well unfortunately you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar! Man the truth hurts! So I consented to being cordial and practice my longsuffering! The really cool thing was that I remembered to do a fast for Fast Sunday and can I just say I finally have a testimony about fasting! I never really had one before but after I fasted so that I could remember and be ready to fulfill my purpose as a missionary and partook of the Sacrament everything just seem to stop being so prominant and bug. It all turned into little challenges and problems and smaller mountains to climb until we reach the tree of life!

Remember family and friends that the Gospel of Christ is the only way back to our Heavenly home and that we start our journey after partaking of a renewal of birth and passing into the Kingdom of God here on the Earth and that we may then start to produce our eternal harvests and make progress on our pathway eternally. Remember the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Kingdom of God here on the earth and that through the true church we encounter the only true Ordinances of the Gospel of Christ!

Love you all!

Elder Kyle John Hendrixson 

Monday, October 29, 2012 - I Must Be a Reptile!

Okay so the topic for today may be a little weird but I will explain myself! :)

First lets talk about the good things that happened this week. We had 2 of the people we are teaching come to church.   One we will be marking a baptismal date with her this week and explaining that yes you can be baptised again because you only took a bath the first time because she wasnt baptized under the authority that would be necessary if we are to follow Christ who was baptized by a worhty and true priesthood holder. Here we come with scriptures and salvation.  Also it was beautiful weather this week and it could not be better! It will only get better. I must be a very sweet person because the mosquitos just seem to love me while  I sleep! We found some new investigators this week and they seem to have a very deep interest in the gospel and partaking of the fruits that the gospel will help them produce. And a blessing as always would be that we "were worthy to suffer persecution in the Name of the Lord." (Acts 5:31) :) 

This week we had a special conference with our mission because of an inspiration that our Mission President recieved and decided that it could not wait until December. Man was everyone nervous , exept me. :) I even tried  to make a bet with my companion that this conference was not to just be a rebuking fest of the Pres. I was rather on the contrary. I was expecting a straightening of a few of the things that were wrong in the mission and then to recieve instructions of how to be better missionaries and really get to hear some good stuff and how the President had an inspiration of things to do. It actually had to do with the special assignment he gave us to read The Book of Acts in 4 days and how that we should have learned a few things from the assigmnent he gave us and that we would recieve the same revelation he recieved if we asked the Lord! How cool is that? Needless to say it was a super great conference and it is always nice to see a lot of those friendly faces and people  you don't get to see very much!

Okay now lets get to why I am a reptile! That statement was based on I love the heat and the sun! I mean it is frying outside but it is not even close to reaching St. George or Fresno heat so it is all good! Not to mention that when I am in the sun I feel like someone is pumping energy into me! The only time that it becomes dangerous is when I have sweated so much that the sunscreen has melted off of my face and I have to reapply! Yup I love the sun but my skin is a natural enemy! Although it gets to be really tough if we get to talking to someone in their house because they usually turn the lights off so that it is cooler and well like a good reptile I just want to sleep so I start to yawn and can't stop and my companion starts to go to sleep on me at times because the heat just sucks the energy right out of him and me, but I still love the sun! It is way better than a rainy day or a cloudy day! For me I just say bring on the heat because it just makes another excuse to stop and ask for a cup of water so that we can talk to the person. Including one time this week a person felt pity for us and invited us to come in and sit down, so logically I got to talking and having a g ood time and found out that they had had an unfortunate death in the family and he was really bothered about what another religion had said so I opened up the Bible and the Book of Mormon and we said a prayer and got to it! He didn't accept to let us come back because he wanted his religion and I was a little sad because you could tell he loved to hear our message from the word of god, but yet he still chooses to be blind to  the truth!  Maybe one day he will recognize what we said to be true and the seed that we planted will grow so that he can  recieve the plentitude of blessings that The Lord will drop on his doorstep in return for entering into the kingdom of god.  Follow the first 4  principles and ordinances of the  Gospel of Christ! Check out Hebrews 6:1-2  this was my scripture for the week.

Oh and I almost forgot! Our Sunday School teacher didn't show up on Sunday so I winged the lesson and man did I do a good job! It was on Temple Work and Family History! Those are two things that I am not very confortable teaching but luckily the Holy Spirit was with me and gave me a sweet game plan!

The people in the class asked very few questions and all of them commented on how clear I was about it that they understood! Man I sure do love teaching about the gospel of Christ. Any part of it always has something new to learn and when you are the one teaching I feel like you learn so much more . I can just say that luckily the Lord is helping because otherwise we all know that I would complicate things until I made the earth spin the other way!   ;)

With laughs and a boisterous smile. I love you all and miss you like a fish misses water!

Elder Kyle John Hendrixson!

{Surprise! Kyle is truly a Hendrixson - the son of a reptile and the grandson of a reptile!!  Who would have guessed!! }

Monday, October 22, 2012 - Was I Dreaming or Awake?

This week I was super tired and we worked until I just couldn't take it any more. Relaxing today was a very much welcome thing within my week and this week should be the same way. WE actually reached our goal of 14 other lessons this week which was great and very welcomed! Very few people wanted to hear but the few that did seem to have some promise. It just so happened that we had two investigators in church this week.

One is a lady who has the only video rental store here in my area and she is super sweet. Yet she has been passing through a difficulty in her marriage and just needed a little bit of  the gospel. I made her a promise that if she would come to chruch she would recieve an answer to the problem she is having and it happened!! Can you believe it? I thought I was dreaming! Yet I sure am glad that I wasn't and now she said she felt like she was at home and that this was the place to be and promised to visit again but is a little hesitant because of the religion she goes to but the good part is that no matter what the Lord will prepare the hearts of his children and who do better than he could? No ONE!

The second is an employee of our Bishop.  He is 17 years of age and he loves the church and he will come again, so two dates of baptism here we come! I am super excited for what the Lord has planned to happen this week for us and we will be glad to see His hand in the things that we will be doing this week. HE really sent his armies of angels to help us this week and I expect nothing more and nothing less this week and all the weeks to come!

Love you all!!!!

Elder Kyle John Hendrixson

Monday, October 15, 2012 - The Lord's will shall be done!

This week was a tough week and we had few people at home and even fewer who wanted to listen to us but that didn’t get us down. We worked right up to the hour that our days ended, we got up, we studied hard and we ate good food. This week was a holiday for the kids in Brazil and some other Catholic holiday honoring a Saint but I already forgot which one. We visited some people who really do have quite a bit of hope with some of our visits and this week I just know will be a good week.

What I would like to share is that The Lord Blesses His servants and even gives us inspiration when we don’t know even where to start or any scripture to help but:

Ether 12:4 4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with ^asurety ^bhope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which ^chope cometh of ^dfaith, maketh an ^eanchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in ^fgood works, being led to ^gglorify God.

This scripture was givin to me with flashing lights during a visit to a family who is having a difficult time and started to let their commitment to the Lord become last priority. I truly have gained a testimony of the veracity that when we put God as First Priority and leave the rest to work itself out that it truly will. I also know that God will never give us a bigger trial or test of Faith than we can overcome but it for dang sure can come very close to where we just can’t take it anymore.

My week was a little bit like that. I just couldnt take it any more, but we continued to talk to people. WE continued to go and implore the people to assume the responsibilities that we ask of them that they can recieve the greater blessings. We worked in the rain, the heat, and the wind! WE even forgave those people who were mean to us and told us that we don't mean anything and that we are wasting our time, that we don't know anything and won't make a difference. WE were called good looking and treated like candied objects for the eye but yet we still tried to help these people have more than just a vision of the carnal and insatiable desires of the flesh that they might have an anchor in the everlasting gospel of Christ that will never become insipid no matter how much we partake of it.

Stay firm to the Lord and he will bless you and he has promised that miracles will happen in your lives because he will make them happen. May you all pray always asking for faith and guidance and blessings for those things of our dreams and nessecities. That we might seek to be in harmony with the Word of God by partaking of the feast of words we have through all the Prophets that have existed here on the earth!

Love,

Elder Kyle John Hendrixson!!! :)

Monday, October 8, 2012 - Can airplane tires make you fly?

Alright so lets get down to it! Conference was great!!! Not to mention for a missionary it is like a three day weekend so yahoo!!! :P

I dont have a whole lot to say but what I have to say is important.

1- I have a terrible key board again so i am beating the living "plastic" out of this thing!

2- I had my shoes re-soled this week and the guy put airplane tire rubber on the bottom and from what I have heard is that the rubber will last longer than the leather will and I am pretty sure that guy is right but it sure is weird not walking on a half moon! :D

3- We are having a lot of success in finding. No relly great stories yet but their should be some to come! We did find one less active family and we told them about conference and well they invited the whole neightborhod to watch it at their house so I am hoping for some really great references and some reactivation!!!!!

4- Life is great and my back has stopped hurting since I started sleeping in my hammock!!! Life is great and I am now 20 years old! HA can you believe it? I can't!

5- I love you all very much and wish you the best and hope that you will have a great week and that the Lord will bless you all!

Love,

Elder Hendrixson

PS If you ever think something that is asked of you in the church is without purpose go and read the story of Naman in 2Kings!!!

Monday, September 24, 2012 - Corrective Lenses??

Well this week was a very interesting and yet at the same time very aggravating! THe good thing was that the weather was great other than the two days it rained!

 

As I read Acts 19:2-7 and Acts 26:2-23; 25-29 you find a lot of great things! Paul actually refuses to take the crazy plea that one of the Roman goveranantes gives him to take so that he doesnt have to appear before Ceasar! Paul basically chooses to be imprisoned and talks exactly about what needs to be done and how the people are not following what they know they should do.

  

My favorite part of this whole week were verses 25-29 in Acts chapter 26 where Paul asks a retorical question and tells Aggripas the fact of the matter and the best part is that Aggripas doesnt deny it. He just states that Paul almost convinced him to be a Christian! That is HUGE!!!

  

I actually used this scripture with some of our investigators after bearing a testimony and it just seemed like it didnt sink in so I gave them a little bit more weight to the topic.

  

I am pretty sure people think we are blind, because as we come walking down the street we watch them go from the sidewalk to the inside of their houses. Frustrating? I think so! Not only that but we talk to people and they truly need or want what we have but when we come to GIVE it to them they just dont want it anymore!

  

Luckily we have one family that is super sweet and has a lot of promise if only they will fulfill their compromises!

  

Love You All!!

Elder Hendrixson!

Monday, September 17, 2012 - Analogy of the Plan of Salvation

Imagine as if we were born into a school. A school where we have to pass tests and difficulties and learn a certain core curriculum but that we all had our memories wiped like they do in Men in Black. Yup that is basically life for all of us here on earth. We all made a choice to come here because we believed in the PLAN that our Father made so that we could all graduate and return back to our home and live with him again as a family. We forgot everything because if we knew everything it would be easy to pass the test and that wouldnt make a test very good, now would it?

  

Well in this school you dont have as many choices as you want to make, who you want to be and who you want to affiliate with. You get to choose how you make a living, living amongst your family here in the world or ignoring the fact that they are your family and seek to gain from what they lose. I mean there is a famous saying that I have heard a lot in my life, "All is fair in love and war." The only thing we have to know for certain is that there was one Son of our Father who came here to school and passed with flying colors and 100% in order to create a way for us to find that path which we had forgotten. Luckily he lefted us many instructions on how to follow and know what were the markers and coordinates that we could use to return to our Heavenly Home. One problem is that some of our brothers tampered with our instructions o that they are semi-incomplete. Well that is not fair! Luckily like I said, "He was a 100% perfect," and knew that some conspiring men would come along and try to live on the high horse so that they could benifit for very little-not working for their bread by the sweat of thy brow!

 

 As we all walk along our various and wandering pathways in life often times we come accross a marker that is not of our path or of what we are accustomed to and should pause to stop and think about what these markers could be. Could it be that this marker will lead me back to what will sustain me for more than this mortal time period to where my body with rot and quite only to leave me where I have no knowlegde of what is happening? Well this would be where our tests and trials come in and how much attention we gave to what was happening around us. There is one major test to enter into the right path where you can gain all the knowledge you want and even have a personal tutor. This would be entering in by the sheep gate (John 10:1-10). If we enter by this gate we then have a promis to be given a tutor that is all knowing and very wise who as long as we do what was asked by the books of direction we have he will stay but if we dont do our homework nor follow the rules we have no promises. Yes, we have various texts that will tell us about all the rules and guidlines by which all of our final projects should follow. Generally we have 5 main sources of these rules and guidlines who were published by many and various Presidents of the Entire School. Yet there is one major problem. How can you complete an assignment without the books necessary to procure the necessities? There are two standard works that are very common and is published widely and many peopl read it but the sad part is that they only usually read the parts that are trivial and poetic. And dont really read and understand the entire book in the correct concept because the class assasinated the President of the School and his councilors so that they could have a mutiny and alter the two main texts in order to make money and have worldly gain from the failure of their fellow peers.

  

How do we expect to pass the test? It would be nearly impossible without other texts that would complete the rest of the information necessary to pass the test. ONLY the first test. We can do what we want during our mortal life but if we never complete the first test our our time bell rings, you go to detention. Why procrastinate finding the test and preparing for it? Many people will end up going to detention for the pure fact of laziness to conform to the very basic and simple core curriculum. Life has so much more to give to us than just the basic but it is our choice if we want the good, better or best! If you dont pass the test you go to detention and will complain about how unfair life is and you will swear and gnash your teeth and wish that you had passed the test the first time. Luckily, many friends who passed the test and went to recess will return and help their friends who didnt pass to pass the test so that they can come and have recess with them to.

  

Family & Friends a second test is not necessary. It is very possible for all of you to excel beyond just the core curriculum and help those around you and to help yourselves become masters of this life we have hear on this earth so that we are ever more prepared to help those around us from the wisdom which we have gained.

  

Stay firm in the Gospel and seek to broaden and increase your testimony individually every day so that we can become professionals and the bests students of the class and not the kid at the back of the classroom!

  

Love,

Elder Hendrixson!

Monday, September 10, 2012 - Corn Flakes that never get soggy!!

Can you believe it? I actually found a brand of corn flakes that never get soggy! I was pretty sure that it was impossible but I bought some here and you could leave them in the milk for like 2 hours and they were still crunchy! Can you believe that, its almost unatural!

Well I got to thinking about this radical anomily-I am pretty sure I spelled that wrong but oh well-that shouldnt happen so I got to thinking about it before I went to bed one night and I had dreams of corn flakes. I had two.

The First was about how the pargaguayans had made them out of some sort of alien plastic that was edible but later on in the future it would give them the ability to control our appetite. Or that they had made them out of corn that was soft and luscious like california corn because we all know that the best food in the world comes from the San Juaquin Valley or your own personal garden. Did I mention that I like food and that I woke up super hungry at about 4am! That was terrible so I drank about a liter of milk and flopped back down on the floor.

The Second was related to the Gospel of Christ. Now I know that those of you who are reading this are going how in the world does a baked chip of corn that then recieved a sugar coating hav anything to do with the Gospel of Christ? Well then allow me to explain my semi conscious reasoning and corn flake addition! I eat about 3-5lbs a week :) Yum! So the gospel of Christ is like a corn flake that never looses its crunch because the atonement of Christ never looses its freshness and well we all know that repenting sucks and that in return we recieve a sugar coating in the blessings and peace and cleaness of conscience that we recieve and well the milk would represent being completely immersed and practically drownded in a world of terrible things that are around us.
Yet we who use the repentance proccess add a little bit of sweetness so that the worlds doesnt seem to be a bad of a place and that we are here to make a difference. If you think about it, just think if we had more members in the world just how much sweeter the milk would be and all of that good stuuff!

Well that was my sugar coated corn flake analysis, a little crazy but hey missionary = creative with whatever he has on hand!

Thought for the week: Why does the world seem so small within the church?

1) John 17

2) E PLURIBUS UNUM

3) The God Head

These all have references to being one! All of them are completely different sources! Well why would this make the world a smaller place.

Lidership would be the key phrase in the fact that if you have leaders on all levels until you get up to the superiors then you all have a relation at some point within the chain but then you create a spider web by sending the leadership all over the place to talk or help in some way. Then you have the fact that young missionaries are being sent all around the world and then you have the example of where your normal life will take you and the congregations that you might frequent only once but this is yet another link to complete the web. The coolest part is that if we actually were to become one and to have only righteousness here on the earth-which will not happen within the fallen state-we would accomplish so much more and have a quality of life stupendous but we have a war of good and eavil and well as the famous conquerers of the world knew. Divide and conquer or you even have the Roman Empire that united under Catholicism because the leaders knew that religion held a stronger and more meaningful bond for people rather than just a political commitment.

Let us all bring the true Gospel of Christ into those around us! That we all may be united as one as Brothers and Sisters in these Latter Days that our trials may be as the dust that the Apostles shook from their feet when a city did not accept the message of Christ!

Love you all and pray for you daily,

Elder Kyle Hendrixson

 

P.S Until next week!

Monday, September 3, 2012 - The Week of BEEF!!

Alright well I litterally laughed a ton this week! We had many a hilarious thing happen and we have been working super hard and I think that littereally everyday we spent over niine hours standing and talking to people. To the point where my companion started complaining about his knees hurting and well I have to admit, I need to lose some weight cause my feet hurt. OR it could be because I have feet that are as flat as a pancake!

ONe day this week my companion and I had our lunch fall through so we had to buy our own and well we both didnt have our wallets so luckily we scrounged up 10 bucks from change and our reserves we keep in case of emergencies and well we bought what looked like a log, made of bread and stuffed with super yummy sausage and bacon and cheese! We ate that and then sat down in the shade to take a nap and well we were both so tired, we had a great nap!

We made quite a few contacts and really we just had a really great time laughing at our stories from life and well lets just say that you see some really funny stuff happen here in Brazil.

Probably my favorite visit we made this week was with a less active mom who has two teenage daughters. No, it is not my favorite because they are beautiful but it sure is easy on the eyes. It was my favorite because she had grilled up a quarter half of beef just for her self in hopes that some other people would come along and visit and have some to eat and talk to her. WHich I am sure the Holy Spirit led us there or as Reed would say, "THis boy can smell tri-tip a mile a way!" One sad thing is that Thanksgiving is coming and well lets just say I dont think that it is a holiday here in Brazil . . . bummer!

The story about the less active is that her first husband died-here in Brazil having a husband is rare, she only lived with him. Oh and she only had like 40 years. Then she grabbed another one after becoming a member of the church and was planning on marrying and all the arrangements were set. They were a month away and he died in a mortorcylce accident to leave her alone and pregnant! SO she has been having a really tough time so we have been visiting a lot to try and get her to come back to church and so that we can baptise here 14 year old daughter because the 19 year old is already baptized and somewhat active but her family is keeping her from that because they go on vacation together and they are really united which is awesome. I just wish that they were united together in the church. Oh and her beef was really good and not to mention that we were really hungry!

Other than that this week was pretty awesome in and of the fact that we had a second lesson with a very special daughter of god who will be baptised this next weekend but she doesnt live in our area but she is the girlfriend of one of our members and she is just well probably one of the best people I have met here in Brazil but I do have a conviction that it was me and my companion specifically that needed to teach her and not anyone else!

My phrase this week was either "Akuna Matata" or bring on the heat! Man was it hot thisweek or what! I mean I literally felt like I was back to a St. George summer which I am pretty sure that Willford Woodruff said that it is like hell on earth but I could be wrong! ;) It was a great week of sun and heat and man I am liking it. In about January I will be saying the exact opposite!

I love you all very much and miss you lots and hope that life is going well for all of you! Not to let you think I am slacking or anything but I will admit I pray for all of you everyday except for one time this week when I fell asleep in my prayer before I got to family and friends because you always save the best for last! I woke up in a very uncomfortable posittion . . . moral, just skip the prayer and go to bed? No just summarize a lot faster and dont rest your head on the pillow while saying your prayer! :D

Love,

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, August 27, 2012

Dear Family&Friends,

This week was a good week! We worked like crazy and well lets just say missionary work is no joke and I would love to be able to ride a bike! I miss driving like crazy but luckily it will be back within my abilities to drive again in only a little over a year. Then you have the fact that the harder you work the more miracles the Lord puts in your pathway. :D

 We had a couple miracles this week like the fact that I got out of bed ontime and was able to study awake even though you wake up feeling like you have been beaten everyday because we have very few people we teach everyday so we spent the entire day standing and talking to people and it only ends after 9 at night. We found some people who really have promise and seem to have a least a piece of desire somewhere in their heart to hear what we have to say with real intention.

The best miracle was that we had a member that asked us to teach one of his friends. HE forgot to tell us that she is drop dead gorgeous and super smart. It was pretty awesome! The best thing is that she has to be one of God´s elect just by the fact that her light of Christ is well tended. My companion and I gave one of the fastest and information filled lessons of the RESTORATION than I have ever given and she was just taking it all in. Luckily she was super smart and well I gave her a great analogy of why both the Bible and The Book of Mormon are super important and how it applies with all the rest of the Gospel principles that help us follow the pathway that Christ has shown us! THe analogy was one I learned from scouting: If we dont have a reference point we will always end up walking in a circle that never ends, but if we have a point of reference then we know how to follow that path, the exact pathway that Christ showed us. THat is why the Book of Mormon is so important, entirely.

Yup I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting this week and I actually got nervous. It was the weirdest thing. I ended up finishing all of my material in five minutes which I didnt even think was possible by the fact that in portuguese I usually talk a little slower but man I blew right through it flawlessly and was able to more fully explain the importance of using the Holy Ghost more often so that we can testify to the entire world not only through our words but the words that will touch even the hardest heart through the gift that we have recieved (see 2Nephi33:1).

Remember to stay strong and that even the strongest among us needs to have support and that those who are weak should always have a helping hand ready and there for when they decide that they want to return but have temporarily lost their compass and sense of direction. These are they who need a guide more than anything else. May we be friends to everyone and especially those who are our neighbors because they are the closest to our homes. Oh and remember that if you never start, you can never finish!

Love,

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, August 20, 2012 { TRANSFER!! }

"Alright so this week is not going to have any pictures but there will be some next week I promise! my grammar is going to be terrible because I have a lot to say and the key board is terrible!

First off to start the fact of the matter is that i dont make a very good city kid. atleast not a big city like sao paulo without time to relax. sao paulo is super stressfull and was taking a huge tole on me and my health. i was always super tired and trying to sleep a little extra and get so much done and the air there is terrible and polluted like none other. i may not smoke but heck you might as well with as many people you walk by or behind that are doing it and all you do is inhale the crap. it is terrible you litterally have black mucus. that is not a very good sign in my opionion but hey what do i know? Oh I know what i know, that Jesus Christ lives and that i am a representative and i will be for another year and four months and i am going to love every minute of it!

Lucky, i have been transferred to the interior of the state of sao paulo. on our trip out there we took a bus and well i almost cried when we hit the place with just trees and green and grass and cows. if i had been close enough and stopped i think i would have givin it a big hug. I also saw a horse with a guy riding it down the street this week and I actually walked on a dirt road and some grass and man it was just lovely. the air here is not poluted, there is dust when you walk and I love it! the tallest building i have seen is 3 stories and man have i slept good.

Speaking about sleeping. Well since we are opening this area, which is call Vila Angelica, we dont have a house so we are staying in the house of another companionship of missionaries and well lets just say that I am not a fan and we are sleeping on basically a therma rest every night and living out of our suitcases and it is just crazy. we are trying to get out of there as soon as possible. I think the earliest i got to bed this week was 11:30. Oh and it is dry and hot and i have been getting lots of sun! I love sun and yes, to all those who are worried about my little white boy self, I am using sun screen.

My new companion is Elder Nóbrega and he is from brasilia, BR. HE is super awesome and he only has four months left not to mention that he is super helpful for the fact that he started his mission in this area and was here for six months so he pretty much knows where we are going and all the members and all the basics which is good because we dont have a map for now. He and I are way to much a like and like way to many of the same things but it is super nice because we always have something to talk about and know more or less how we want to teach the people but the great part is that I can talk to him and he talks back with opinions and experience! :) I didnt get a deaf mute this time.

This ward is imensely different than the other ward I was in they actually are super happy and want to be going to church and love the gospel and it shows in their lives that Christ is the focus. They have actually called ward missionaries and they have been doing a lot of the work her in the ward and have some families for us to teach already not to mention they are super glad to have us here in the ward to the point where they were already ready to give references and all that good stuff when we arrived here. We already had a lunch calender and didnt have to go hungry which was awesome.  I am thinking that I will probably gain a little weight in this area but we will see how it goes once we get into the groove of things. The plan is that he will be my companion here until the next transfer, we will estabilish the ward and get all the good stuff going and then he will leave and I will train again probably but only the Lord knows what will happen. WE RECIEVED 18 REFERENCES OF FAMILIES AND FRIENDS this week in four days. We have atleast half the ward who wants us to come and do a family night in their house and they have friends who are not members already invited.

The other hting i love about here is that the food is finally a normal price. I can buy 2.26lbs of oranges for 30 cents. Can you believe that? I know what i am going to be eating and it doesnt start with cereal. It starts with fruit and oatmaeal and all the good stuff that gives you energy and it wont cost me a fortune!

I want you all to know that I love you all individually and that I miss you lots and that Christ lives!!!

Stay firm because remember we are the foundation upon which the rest of the world will rely!

Love,

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, August 13, 2012

"Alright so this week was a tough one! We only had the ability to teach eight lessons this week which means 40 hours of proselyting! Thats a lot of rejections and very few succeses. Luckily we had a few perks from the investigators that love us. My companion and I recieved three 13X9 pans of Chocolate Cake! Needless to say I am stuffed and I am loving it! Not to mention this means that our investigators really do feel something special about us so that means we can be a little bit tougher on them because all is fair in love and war, right?

The biggest and hardest thing on a mission to do is love the people and love them enough to tell them what they dont want to hear!  I mean it is super tough to sit there and watch what has been their foundation for years crumble and fall and they lose the shine in their eyes and realize that they need to recieve the Holy Ghost and the only way to do that is through being less worldly. Making a few sacrifices and staying true to Christ. It is super sad when you have an investigator with so much potential but they just wont listen correctly. Many people listen but few hear with their spiritual ears and are too caught up on the translations of man and refuse to have the spirit testify of truth.

My message for all those I love this week is to pray, read the scriptures, and listen for the words that will bring a testimony to our hearts and that only comes from the Holy Ghost (2Nephi 33:1-2)

May all of you be part of the choosen and not just of those who were called because the Kingdom of God is becoming even closer each day and if we are of the chosen, we will stand in those last days without the knashing of teeth and wailing that will come when our conscienses are accounted for with a clarity that no man can deny.

Love your neighbor and be brave to share the gospel with those who are your friends and family because we are all children of God and in the last days we will all be brothers and sisters.

Alright so on the funny side! :D We were marking another day to visit one of our investigators and well as she was walking away she blew my companion and I a kiss in front of the Bishop and well needless to say it absolutely floored him, not to mention all the women 15-70 have started referring to my companion and I as dear, honey, beautiful and all the other from above really awkward nicknames. It is rather hilarious! :P

Also we passed by the birthday of a member in the ward just for cake and well while we were singing happy birthday I had the pleasure  of recieving a full glass of soda on top of me. It is a very strange sensation when carbonated water with sugar is spilled on top of you, I also hope it doesnt happen again. Oh and my companion walked into a stop sign! he was busy talking to me and not paying attention!

Pictures, My companion and I were exploring one day and we took a break to realax and decided to take some pictures and we had a little fun just messing around. After we took these we were walking past a shrine of spiritualists and well I didnt know and my companion didnt know and they were moving some palm fronds to the other side of the street and we asked if we could help and well I recieved the response of, "Get thee hence from my prescence SATAN!" Then she started screeming and trembling and talking in a strange language, I almost died of laughing infront of her, so I just kept walking.

Oh and I almost forgot about this experience. My comp and I were walking home one night through our little park of Iniquities: Drugs, marajuana, violation of Chastity, and just about whatever else and we encountered and entire group of spiritualists doing their little ritual cirlce screaming and chanting and well it was all kinds of strange but mostly hilarious!

Love all of you and wish you a super great week! :P

Elder Hedrixson with an X

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

What you put in always has a result. ;)

Alright so I know the subject line is a little weird today but the fact is true. Just use your imagination and see what comes to mind. Whatever thing you put in always has an image or a memory or result that comes to be. Just like if you put a sheep amongst wolves or visa versa. What you put in always has a result. One of the best things I could think that all of us to do and to realize is that spiritually we need to be like the Spartans and use the system created to protect us to prevent us from the most harm. They had a system that made sure that they `loved their neighbor´ but why? Well one it is one of the greatest commandments that God gave us and because their live along with their neighbor were at stake if they didnt do their job. Just think, if we all had this mind set, how many fewer members or friends would become less-actives in the church or how many fewer of us would fall in to deep traps of sin?

Here in the ward I am serving this has been one of the biggest and greatest problems is that people are "too busy." Please be friends to those around you and make sure to help those who are members who possibly dont have many other sheep to keep them from being the stray sheep devoured by the wolves because they were forgotten by the herd and the shepherd. Let us be an example of the believers in all of our actions and doings.!

Message:

Lucas 10:13-I think it is thirteen but it should go a little bit like this. "Go ye forth; therefore I have sent ye as lambs/sheep amongst the wolves."

As missionaries we are literally out here in pairs and the wolves are all around us. Yet even more important is the fact that all of us who are members are as sheep amongst the wolves. Some of us though have callings to be pastores, but not only some of us. The thing is that we all have an individual and undeniable responsibility to cry wolf when something has come amongst us-the sheep-to destroy.

As members of the church we are sheep because we are separated from the world who are the wolves! The wolves dont necessarily have to be physical danger. Anything that will cause spiritual harm is a wolf. Therefore anything that we do to permit the wolves into our lives, not only affects us but all those around us within the herd.

Also one other thing that I have been hearing a lot lately that I have been clarifying for members and for everyone else we talk to which is a lot! Is that the world has come up with the idea that the people are the church. This sounds all great and wonderful but the fact is that we are children of God, The Gospel of Christ is the system by which we can assure our eternal salvation, and The Church is a necessary part that cannot be ignored but that it must have the one and only true Priesthood.

The church as a physical place for gathering is a necessity! If you want to disagree then deny Christ because Abraham was told to build a tabernacle. Elijah and Elias built altars unto the Lord and so did Adam. Then if you want even more proof look in the Book of Mormon 2Nephi 6:7-13 where Nephi is leaving his brothers as inspired by the Lord and when they are leaving it tells of what they take with them and also what the Lord commands him to build-a Temple! A place for gathering specific for the Lord has always been a main and basic principle and even was when the church was restored.

I love all of you and hope that you are well!!

Just to rub it in, Brazil is about 60 degrees and sunny right now and for the next couple weeks and the food is still great!! It is going to be fruit season soon and I am excited!

Love, and a great big hug to all of you!

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, July 30, 2012

"This week was interesting. We did a lot of teaching and a lot of teaching with members but it just doesnt seem like a whole lot will come of it while I am here. We have made a goal to contact 10 people before and after every appointment we have to hopefully find the elite of the Lord and help things out around here. 

I am starting to organize a program to teach english to help find new investigators in the area and work with the ward to do family nights and more activities together at the Chapel and it takes a lot of time and planning.  

I have started putting on a little weight and I know it is because the food here is some really good stuff and that it is a huge blessing o I am trying learn how to enjoy the taste and the good stuff but I am not sure you all know how hard it is to refuse good food. I mean it is me we are talking about and the sister either A: Guilt trip you into eating their food, or B: they beg you to eat more and if you dont they go right back to A and then you have a contstant flow of pattern ABBAABBAABBA and eventually you sacrifice wieght for your own peace of mind! ;) 

I MEAN WHAT A SACRIFICE! :P

I made cookies this week and everyone loved them at lunch and they were gone in a heart beat! The best thing is they all think that it is super hard to make them and they could hardly believe that I could fend for myself in the kitchen. I mean I know I am a boy and that I am an only child with only 19 years of age and that I am in a foreign country and that I am an American and in their minds we dont do anything and that I have never lifted a finger to work in my life. Luckily we popped the egotistical bubble with a cookie needle! YUMM!!!!

I want to thank all of you who read these and want you to know that I love you all very much and that I miss you and that all of you are special in my life and that you will all continue to be important.

READ THE SCRIPTURES

HAVE A QUESTION

THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU READ

THEN ASK GOD IF THERE IS ANYTHING MORE OR IF YOU CAME TO THE RIGHT CONCLUSION AND TO SEE IF THE SCRIPTURES ARE TRUE!

THEN SAY THANKS!

My self made quote for the week is that ATTITUDE is the difference between heaven and hell!

 

Atitude está a diferencia dentro os céus e o inferno!

Love,

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, July 23, 2012

"Wow I am super short on time today. I had a lot of stuff from the mission to read so I am going to have to type super fast and abbreviate.!!

This weeek was a good week and thank goodness we had a tour of the mission with Seventy Claudio M. Costa who came and gave us some of the best training of my entire life but I cant tell cause it is top secret!

We had five days of just money for lunch so I mean I got my fiber in! ;) Just kidding but I did live on my own cooking which I mena I am a good cook but I prefer when other people make it. My companion wont eat my food it is too spicy for him!

WE met some really awesome people.

I finished the book of Matthew and man it was super great! Also I think the sermon on the mount was my favorite part but really chapter 27 hit me like a freight train it was great! Also I got a hair cut and I look good! :)"

Monday, July 16, 2012

I am a DAD!

That is mission talk for I was called to be a trainer about two weeks ago. Sorry everyone for not writing on the 9th but all the lanhouses were closed due to the fact that we had a holiday.

Alright so quick funny story. Well we got there for transfers, there reffering to the Mission Home, and well I was looking around for my new greeeny and well all of a sudden someone was like wait! You have a training meeting, yet no one told me so I was quite fashionably late and man did I see a lot of really familiar faces there.

Yes I know you are all just thinking that hey, he just got there, and that there is no way I know what I am doing but I hate to tell all of you that the Lord begs to differ! :P Anyways my greeny is named, Elder Saulo Ferreira and he is actually from the State of São Paulo! He has only been a member for a year and a half!!!! Can you believe that? I mean this guy has some conviction and is has been great! He only has one little thing that bugs me a lot and that is the fact that I will say we are leaving at 12:00 and we always end up leaving a half hour late. I dont know what he does for this half hour besides that fact that he walks back and forth between the room and the bathroom and the kitchen so I just wait, kneeling, and trying not to give to many obvious hints!

Other than that he is an only child and he is really great! He works hard, studies hard, and wants to be the best missionary that he can possibly be and so I have been walking him to death, stuffing him full of more food than he wants to eat and making him talk to strange people, visit strange places and his head is still spinning as we sit here because I can see it out of my periferals! :D Oh how I dont miss being super brand new.

I am still in the area of LAPA and loving it and it looks like we will be having a bit of a drought on baptisms for a little while but I hope not too long because the Lord has many children here that are just waiting and I know it. It is just a matter of finding them! Personally I have knocked on more doors and talked to more people in the last few days than I have in quite a while. It find it really interesting that I finally have a fire and a desire to work now that I am the head of the program. When I was a junior it was just a lot tougher and all I have to say is that being a Senior campanion makes you get out of you shell and really explore what you have to do and how you can best do it and I sure do love it!!!

We still have an amazingly large amount of work to do but I ready for it. I am not tired, I am not hungry, and I am definetly not done in this area or will I be any time soon, which is great because I know that Elder Ferreira and I are going to make a huge difference here and that we are what is needed here, right now and for as long as we need be.

Oh and one of my goals is to finish the New Testament in Portuguese by the 20 of August!!! :)It is about 10 pages a day!

Love VERY MUCH,
ELDER HENDRIXSON

P.S. Elder Ferreira constantly tells me that he is more beautiful than me. Personally I dont agree but I let him think what he wants, it is more fun that way especially when he tells the members! He will learn!!! :)

Monday, July 2, 2012

Anyways other than that this week has been good and really crazy! WE have adone a lot and a lot of walking and man can I just say that I miss being able to have nothing time! I mean we wake up get ready and study then the whole rest of the day we just talk to people non-stop and have a great time and it is really relieving when someone actually wants to talk to you because most people are just like, I dont know you and therefore you are dirt! Ya it stinks but I guess that i the life of a missionary (salesman). Then you have the fact that I absolutely hate that whenever we walk past some other churches, freaky fanatic meatings, they are doing all sorts of weird stuuff and it is stuffed to the gills! Why isnt our church stuffed to the gills! If people would just be open to our message they would see how wonderful it is!

My companion is going home on Wednesday and I will be recieving a new companion. WHo he is I have NO IDEA!! I hope he is a good one and that I am not going to want to beat his head in! I am grateful that I can keep going here in LAPA because I feel that there is a lot more work here that I have to do so I dont mind staying plus I already know the members and they love me as a general rule ;) and ya so I dont mind staying but it will be nice to have some new legs and some new things to learn from someone else! 

I want to wish all of you a Happy 4th of July and just to let you all know it will be about sixty degrees and beautiful here while you are all cooking but the sad part is that it is not a holiday down here so I am going to strut in my big red, white, and blue tie and be a patriotic American because I can! Luckily there will be plenty of fireworks because there will be a soccer game that night Corinthians vs. Boca in Argentina. 

I miss all of you and love you all and hope that you are doing well and that any of you who want to write me are more than welcome!!! 

Keep the flag waving at your homes and it will never fall because it is in our hearts!

Love the American way,

Elder Hendrixson :)

Monday, June 11, 2012

Alright so this week was pretty good. We could call it the week of Hell freezes over and all the people we want to talk to are bundled up inside the house! Man it was cold this week and no one was out or wanted to talk and then you could add the fact that it rained practically all day every day! Talk about a fun week to have soggy toes! Can I just say that the first person to actually create a water proof missionary shoe will be a revolutionist because mine say water proof and I think they should change it more to like water resistant! Oh and I bought a new umbrella this week because lets just say,yes I have lost a lot of weight, but it is not nearly enough to fit under a compact umbrella, so I bought a great big gigantic one!!!!! :D WE ARE STILL DOING STUFF LIKE AN AMERICAN!!!! Thats right! You can take the boy out of the WEST but you cant take the WEST out of the boy! 

Other than that this week ws a hungry week because our Rel. Soc. Pres. Totally blew us off for the last two weeks and so nothing was scheduled, our phone was out of credits and so we scavenged for ourselves . . . needless to say I think I will be addicted to beans and rice for the rest of my life! Without them man its like your blood gets all thin and you just dontwant to do anything at all!!!!

So the pictures are just some cool ones that I took and Meg I am getting better with a camera!!! I love technology at times, and others no because I cant tell you how amany freaking broken computers we help people with here!

Anywyas the highlight of the week was getting to watch all of the sessions of the Dedication of the Manaus Temple!! Man they were good and it was a good Sunday. My favorite message of all of them was this! Pres.Uchtdor: Walk infront of the Lord with all your heart! Man that was a powerful message he gave and that was the first. The second was more subtle and abbout pioneers and how when we keep working and doing we recieve the blessings in the end. Ant the third was given by Elder Cook and he talked about how having your own light is very important because if we just live on borrowed light then we cannot ever have the glory of the sun but can only be as the moon.

Love all of you and the work will go on!

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, May 28, 2012

Alright so where to start! This week for p-day we went to this huge park called Parque Villa Lobos! It is super sweet and I think it is about equal to what Central Park in NY and this park and one other in São Paulo. They have all sorts of stuff and it is really fun to just go and relax. My companion and Leonardo, one of our less-actives played soccer, and I sat and talked with our recent convert because lets just say I dont really play soccer to the level of the Brasilians and so I was not in the mood to embarrass myself. I am getting better though!

Alma 22:14 is my scripture for the week because it is so descriptive! It just hit me really hard and it is kinda interesting to see a different language can add just that much more shabam!

Thought for the week: It is not my way that the work should be done, but the way the one who designed it said it should be done. For me I love to get things done right and get them done fast-unless its weeding, then I procrastinate like a pro! Anyways I have found that mission work is just a work that should be done with patience and at a moderate pace in order to make sure that all the details are taken care of.

Story for the week! :D

So my companion Elder Luna is a spaz! He loves to joke and play and have a good time but he also works diligently. Well we have two investigators Marcelo (16) and Marcos (15) who honestly are just problematic. Well we have one sister in our ward who is just awesome named Wilma and she introduced us to them. Well These two decided that it would be really nice to throw a surprise party for their mom who has slowly but surely been growing to like us. When I first arrived she wanted nothing to do with us and would not even hardly say hi to us! Anyway we were late to the party which was the 1st B-day party they had ever had in their household! Can you believe that? Anyways, we showed up and my companion decides to vigorously shake her hand. Why? I dont know, but he ended up spilling her soda all over her lap. In my mind I was just talking to myself because I was just waiting for her to burst out into her usual ranting and raving about us and life but she just laughed it off and smiled and I was completely floored! the woman I knew had been abduted by Aliens!!! It was a really good night and the cake was absolutely amazing!!!

Today for p-day we just played soccer and board games and had a good time! We have some interviews this week and so we will see how they go through and if two boys will accept!

I love you all and trust me I miss you all sufficient! So I pray for you everynight to have more of the spirit along with greater influence!

Love,

Elder Hendrixson

Written May 2, 2012

"I want you guys to know that without a super strong testimony no one would ever serve a misison, but it is these missionaries that keep going their eitire missions who really get the most and I know that is how I want to be.  My family is who taught me how to never give up and how to finish strong and also to do it right the first time."

"Man, it has gotten cold here too and these houses hold out the cold like a cardboard box with 4 windows!  Needless to say I wil probably be guying a coat before it get sany colder.  I hate getting out of bed int he morning to study!  The studying is not the problem, cause I really love the studying, but it's the cold and the tired.  I am sleeping more than I ever have here and I am still dragging my sorry butt out of bed ...  if I get up on time I am just super tired all day."

Monday, May 21, 2012

So Elder Hendrixson had his second baptism and this is what he had to share about the experience ...

"Alright so her name is Dominyk and she is 17 years old and is the girlfriend of one of our less actives that has returned because of her and wants to serve and mission and so does she. She really is one of the elect and will be a strong member and it is awesome! Her whole entire family is being prepared because of her and she really is being the best example!! I will write more next week! this week has been crazy! sorry everyone for not writing more!

Love you all and keep up the good work at home,

Elder Hendrixson

Monday, May 7, 2012

I am not sure where the time is going, but I have fallen behind in keeping Elder Hendrixson's blog updated.  So here is what we received from him in early May ...

"My new companion is Elder Luna and he is from Joao Pessoa, Paraiba and he only has two months left on his mission and he is really awesome and I am learning a lot from him and he is learning from me.

Missionaries have been in this house for 7 years. They have never painted it and there is so much smog in the air that the walls are black.

The paint they used is terrible! I can litterally wash it off with a rag! Not to mention they painted it and were not patient so it bubbled, especially on the yellow walls, so I have been filling the settlement cracks and holes in the wall with concrete and then get to use a finishing product to make the wall smooth so that we can paint by saturday! Where I will find the time? Who knows but it will get done. I love having a Dona of the house that whines and complains about everything in life and is happy with nothing and everything is someone elses fault! This has been the story for the last 5 years and they havent painted the house in five years! Finally they gave in and I have the privelage of getting to have both the managers of the house treat me like I know nothing just because I am supposedly an American who has never lifted a finger to work in my life. Sadly, they have no idea what the truth is. Lets just say the patch work of Jair is about that of a five year old!

Needless to say today was a good break from the missionary work but I was glad to have an excuse to leave the house and not have to have Jair sneaking in and out like a phantom with his weezing cause he smoked too many cigarrettes! Man he gets on my nerves really bad!

 Other than that this week has been really great! We have been making a lot of progress with our investigators and they are fullfilling their parts! We had a really interesting lesson where literally Satan incarnate walked in, right in the middle, and then we had to try and salvage. It was a bit of a stressful situation. Our investigator was fighting with his girlfriend but he told her not to come over because we were there . . . well she came anyone and totally killed it so we sat and wasted a little time talking about how it is important to have the spirit in a lesson and how when we are upset with the people we love it is even more important to have the spirit be there to guide and direct that we dont create and environment of contention and that we have our relationship include the Lord and the spirit that we are guided better and in a better direction! haha they even listened and she calmed down a lot. Then we finished the lesson. In route to leaving I wished them both just a vague good luck and a wink and we vamosed as fast as our feet would take us-laughin all the way! Man I dont miss having to deal with that problem one bit!

Love,

Elder Hendrixson

The Joys of Care Packages!

So the first box I sent Elder Hendrixson had a bunch of goodies in it. Figured after a couple of months in Brazil he was probably ready for some American junk food. I have received several messages regarding the contents. Here are a few comments which made me smile ...

In an email he said: "Thanks for the Oreos I ate them and it was like heaven each and everyone!! interestingly it is so humid here that they get all soft if you leave one on the table!"

The letter I received this week started off with "Can I just say that gummy worms were the best idea ever! They are delicious, they don't melt, and they made a great joke. I got my companion to spew this stuff called tere re. Its this stuff called "yerba mate" which tastes exactly the same as alfalfa but he loves the stuff. I guess it really hurts when you rocket pieces of straw through your nose. Anyways, all I did was stick two worms in my nose, then turn around and he just lost it. It was the best. I laughed till I cried and kept laughing. It was probably the highlight of my week."

Hope he gets his second care package soon, if he hasn't already received it. Even though I send it priority, it still takes FOREVER to reach him. And Courtney and Reed sent him one too!! In the process of putting care package number three together this week. :]

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

We received a bunch of letters today - one addressed to each of us personally - his dad, me, Taylor, Sydney, and Grandma and Grandpa!  It was fun to share what he wrote each of us.  Here are some of the things he wrote in my letter ...

"I have found one interesting thing about writing letters to people during my mission. That I love to write letters and that I never tell anyone person the same stories except for the big important ones. Other than that I have experiences that I share with different people and every letter is a different angle and I think that it is fun.  Brazil is a lot like Europe.  The buildings, the structures, the way people drive, how the people spend their time ...  They paint things bright funny colors.  Its about the partying and the fun not the house or the quality of living.  I find it really interesting.  Everything here has a gate!  Not to mention what looks like one house usually leads into 10 houses and you just clap or holler a name to get them to come out.  Everything here is concrete, and these really wimpy looking bricks.  They throw up 20 story buildings like gingerbread houses.  It is pretty impressive.  I find it fascinating.  I have decided that I want to take an architecture class.

"I think you would like Brazil.  Its not too hot and its not too cold and you can wear whatever you want all year round, but for me I would rather have the heat and cold and the country than be in a huge over populated city with really bad traffic and the only problem is that unless you buy american products, Brazilian products are {not very good}... They have some really good fruit here.  I am sure Brazil has something else good that is produced here but I have no idea how Sao Paulo ever made it to being the 3rd largest city in the world.  It is weird though.  The oranges here are green and yellow.  I have never seen an orange one.  I am gonna drop a lot of weight on my mission I can just tell but I would mind being about 160 or 170 again :)  That means I will lose 80lbs. during my mission.  That would be a little strange.  I would come back a whole new person or lack of a whole person. hehehe.

"Other than the little frustrations life is good.  I am learning more about the gospel everyday and my patience and capacity to just let things go is growing immensely not to mention trying to be optimistic has been a trial but all I have to do is think about what sharing this message with people could do to change their lives.  I wish I could speak Portuguese fluently already cause I would be so much more effective and be making so much more of a difference here but I truly am doing my best and I am learning to accept that, which is definitely one of those mountains Elder Eyring spoke about.  Also Mosiah 4:27 is a good part to remember when trying to accept that your best is accepted."

Mosiah 4:27  And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

Monday, April 23, 2012

It has been a while since I have shared any letters from Elder Hendrixson - been extremely busy.  Here is some of his letter that we received today via email.

"I got a new companion ... and really I am so grateful because he actually has what it takes to turn this area into being more successful."

"Back to investigators, so we have another family kinda sort of. It is Antonia her son Henrique 27 Paulo 25 and her daughter sofia 12 that we are teaching. Henrique and Paulo have accepted baptismal dates and I know Antonia will because she knows that we are true mesengers of God. She told us last time after the Restoration video that she never lets strangers into her house and that she was really mad at Henrique for not telling her that we were coming but she said that her first impression of us were that we were so well manered and so angelic that she just wants us to come by whenever we can and that if she could have this in her life then she would want it for her entire family and well all we have to do is extend the envitation to her and I just know she will be baptized. Her and her family make me feel like I am back at home-well minus the language. :) It really is amazing how people just open up to us and tell us that we just seem to be some of the best people they have ever known which just affirms that we are truly messengers of god and that we really do have a privelage to serve and a big responsibility but it is toatally worth it for those few elect that we have a chance to encounter out of the many. It really does make you sad when someone rejects the gospel. Also just mentioning that those people of the tellestial Kingdom will be as numerous as the sands really is sad because the celestial kingdom is within the reach of those who are just willing to do those simple basic things such as being baptized and perservering to the end."

"Also I am basically running my area right now and I totally made a rookie mistake and said to a member that we would pass by and I didn´t realize that she lives about 1.5 hours of straight walking away from our house! About 7km away! Well it just so happened that when we arrived there that her grandson Matteus was sick with dissentary and a virus at the same time and the medicine wasn´t working and that he had a chance of having permanent damage if his fever didnt break soon. After talking with the family for a while they asked if we could give him a blessing but they asked me to give the blessing! I can barely even stumble through one in english not to mention portuguese!!! Well I did a little bit of preparing(30 seconds) and my companion sealed it and then I gave a blessing of healing. I don´t remember what I said and honestly it was really a powerfull experience for me because I dont speak portuguese well enough to really say what came to mind but they understood everyword and I didn´t but that is jsut a great example of the tongue of angels. We talked for another ten minutes and then they took his temperature again and it was back to normal ALREADY! Miracles really do happen during a mission especially when you are doing the Lord´s work. Even the Lord has plans and guides the feet of the servents that he calls. Even to new ones who seemingly made a mistake!"

Monday, March 26, 2012

Monday mornings are becoming my favorite day of the week. Who would have thought!?! The following is Elder Hendrixson's email in its entirety ...


Alright so this week was cool cause it was ward conference and our goal was to have 20 investigators attend and we had 19!! this was super impressive and I can really start to see our numbers and the types of people we are finding improve for the better and I know it is because of Hard work!

I broke my bed this week! I was getting our of bed five minutes late, sat up, and the bed broke! Moral of the story Brazilians are lighter than Americans! jk you really should just get up ontime!

This week I finally figured out a way to describe getting used to a mission. Growing pains - only because you do so much growing and changing if you are doing what you are suppossed to and ya I am shrinking physically but spititually you grow and and grow and keep growing at an astounding rate and it is not exactly what I would call comfortable. Literally all day long I feast on the words of Christ! Needless to say with all this stress you really want to sleep to recover nd even then you don´t get to turn you brain off, so you think about how to help your investigators, how to find new ones and how to get the members to see what you are seeing and all sorts of wonderful things.

My cool thought for the week was on the idea of how as missionaries we are only the messenger. Interesting after thinking about the significance of the word messenger I came upon the thought of - only armies use messengers. Thats right whether people want to know about it or not there is a war going on between good and evil right now. Only to be building up to the day of the second coming. Well we as the messengers are trying to share who is going to win and how they can be on the winning side because as we know the scales have already been set. Good will triumph over evil and we are trying to help everyone see that through little sacrifices they can ensure their place in the Kingdom of God. Not to mention that especially as missionaries we have legions of angels protecting us. It is interesting how as missionaries our main focus is to get people to use their spiritual eyes to see what is going on and how the ultimate sacrifice has already been made and all we have to do is follow some simple rules and we will know for a surety that we are saved.

Along with that thought a lot of the time as missionaries we help the less active or the inactive. As I was reading in the book of Alma 1-4 it talks about the Anlicites. Well our job as missionaries is to keep this same event from reocurring. To help people stay firm and not be swayed by the priestcraft and craftiness of the world. It is rather interesting reading the scriptures in portuguese and really having to focus and ponder and pay attention!

Love Elder Hendrixson

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Today we received a letter in the mail from Elder Hendrixson, with some pictures.  As soon as I get the pictures scanned I will add them to his page of pictures.  Here are some excerpts from his letter.


Thank you for sending me a package!  It was amazing to get one and thank you so much.  Whenever you get to sending another one I just want to make a request {these are just requests :] not necessities} for a few items - sorry for being so needy". 

He then went on to list some things he would like, such as writing supplies and more pictures. 

"I will be out in the field in just one week from now.  We went proselytizing yesterday and it was totally awesome!  I loved getting to talk to the people and the really cute girls :] .  They were very receptive but it was interesting to watch these people who knew who we were turn around and walk back into their houses or just avoid us completely.

The Brazilian people are so nice :] ... but it is interesting to see a big city and the range of rich - poor and how it seems to be a lot different than the states.

Tile and smooth, hard and durable flooring is all that is used here.  They don't use carpet at all.  I am glad to be able to hear from all of you.  I will send you a really good letter soon!  :]

Love, Elder Hendrixson


I love all of the smiling faces he puts in his letter, as I know these are from his heart and that he is truly enjoying the Lord's work.  If you have the time, drop him a quick note - it doesn't have to be long - he just enjoys hearing from everyone.

Monday, March 19, 2012 { Holy Batman! }

Wow - two emails in one morning!!  I don't think Monday mornings can get much better than this!

"My analogy for this week.  This week I felt like Batman, which was actually a pretty sick feeling!  I was sitting up on top of our house writing in my journal and just enjoying the weather which is perfect right now and it came to my mind that missionaries are like Batman.  I am in a huge city that is corrupt and there are literally thousands of people suffering and there is a ton of drugs.  Then you have us missionaries out here being vigilantes for good.  We wear a uniform of a white shirt, a snazzy tie, some slacks and some high tech shoes that take us anywhere we are willing to walk, then we have some seriously cool equipment:  scriptures, pamphlets from the church, a name tag [so we don't forget our names ;) ], and the endowment.  We go out only after 11 o'clock and return when our business is done.  We strike fear in the hearts of the bad and those people that are up to no good and we save those people who are willing to listen and give them to drink of the water that they might never thirst again.  It is totally legit.  We ourselves are not rich but we all know that the church has enough ;)  Oh and I almost forgot, we also all have time pieces to make sure we are prompt!  Way better than James Bond who could cut through a 1 inch plate of steel with some lazer, be late, make a huge mess, assassinate one person only to have another come to power, and only end up with one girl who lasted for what 12 hrs and then she dies.  I mean come on being a missionary is so much better!"

Hmmm....wonder if his next set of pictures will show him wearing a cape?!  Probably not.  It sounds like a cape would only be for show, which is not what the missionaries are about, nor would it add to the already amazing arsenal they have to enter into battle each day!