Announcements – Archived

What is up everyone!! I hope everyone is doing well and had a phenomenal week!! This week a ton happened!! So lets get right into it!!  

Well second week of Portuguese and I am starting to understand a little bit more!! Hahaha a little bit as in probably 1 percent more haha! But hey progress is progress!! This week we had a really good lesson with one of the recent converts here and her step daughter (who isn’t a member). After the lesson she was asking us questions on how she can prepare for baptism and the things she needs to do!  It was so cool to see the Lord soften and prepare people’s hearts to receive the restored gospel!!! 

So, this week we decided to take the bus one day all the way down to this place called Coconut Grove. One of our members told us that she came across a ton of Brazilians down there and that we should check it out! So to get there we have to take a bus to the train station then the train station to another bus stop then the bus stop to where we are going. So we travel there and it probably took us about 2 hours to get there! We get there and there was absolutely NOBODY there hahaha!! Like no one and so we walk around for a little trying to find some people to talk to and we decided to just go back home because it will take a while and we can make some calls to end the day off.  So, we start to head back and we get on the bus to go to the train station and literally it was the longest bus ride of my life HAHAHA traffic plus some cops blocked off some roads it took one hour and 45 minutes to get to the train station haha!! Longest bus ride I have ever been on haha it was so rough but so funny!!

This week I’ve been studying in 3 Nephi!! Some things that have stood out to me this week!!  When Giddianhi writes an epistle to the chief judge of the Nephites (Lachoneus) trying to deceive him in giving him their freedom and threatens them!  Something that I loved was Lachoneus’s reaction to that letter. Immediately he prepared his people for the attacks of the Gadianton robbers not only physically, but spiritually as well!! It got me thinking of ways that I myself can stay spiritually and physically prepared for the adversary’s attacks in my life!  The Book of Mormon helps me because we see the devil’s strategies and can best expect them in our days!! It’s so cool to see how the Book of Mormon truly is for our day!! I hope that made sense it was kind of just a thought that came to my mind this week!! 

I hope you guys have a fantastic week!! I love you all and am so grateful for you guys!! You are incredible!! 

Amo vocês!! Tchau tchau!!

Elder Castillo 

Good morning!! 

This week was a good one except I was told I’m leaving Tooele and im bummed because we had so much work going on. But I know this will be a good change for me. 

Tuesday 

Today we had a service project cutting down full size trees and using a rope to pull so they didn’t hit the house. Members have a lot of faith in missionaries. It was a ton of fun though and the dude took us to lunch. I used my dog treats I bought on some shih-tzu’s that would always bark at us. I am now their best friend

Wednesday 

Today our mission president came and taught with us for the whole night!!! I’m not going to lie, I was super nervous because if we did good we would get so many brownie points with President. We had some solid lessons and got some referrals to teach. At the end of the night he took us to American Burger and got us some shakes. What a homie. He told us he wants all the missionaries to have nights like this. We executed perfectly.

Thursday 

Today we went to lunch with the kid we baptized and his brother who was set apart as a missionary on Sunday. They are some of the coolest dudes I’ve met on the mish. While we were out knocking on some doors we were praying before going up to the house and the dude opens the door mid prayer and says not today guys. Guess we need to pray harder. Elder sanerivi fell on his bike twice and got hit in the chest with his handlebars. We don’t know how to ride bikes. Out friend Matthew is getting baptized on August 20th so we’re are hyped 

Friday 

We had zone council today and I got my WWJD bracelets and some protein powder from grandma Willis. Shout out to them. It rained today for a bit so it was nice, except afterwards it always feels muggy. We found a new person to teach and are super excited because she has already been going to church for a long time. This lady on the streets posted my companion and I on the Facebook account “missionary mommas” so look out for that.

Saturday 

It rained a ton today and even started to flood the streets which was awesome.We got a call from our mission president and he said elder sanerivi would be getting a new companion and I would be leaving Tooele!!! He said he wants me as a Zone leader in the valley. I don’t know what to think about this because I wasn’t even a district leader so It’s all going to be new for me. We had a service at Deseret peak complex out by Grantsville to help the ward at the demolition derby. I saw kaitlee Maxfield who I went to school with back home at the derby so it was nice seeing a familiar face there

Sunday

We had stake conference and Elder Alvin F. Meredith of the seventy spoke. He spoke in October 2021 conference so it was awesome being able to hear him speak and shake his hand. I got to say goodbye to a ton of people which was hard because I’ve grown to love this stake so much. The High family took us home and got to say bye to them. They are awesome. I packed for a couple hours while listening to some elder Wilcox talks. I leave on p day instead of Tuesday which sucks. We had dinner with the McCollums which is one of my favorite families I’ve met on the mission and then said goodbye to some families we were teaching.

Spiritual thought:

D&C 63:9

But, behold, faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe.

The first principle of the gospel is faith. We must first go through the trial of faith before receiving a sign or answer. Don’t let your faith fall because you aren’t receiving answers at the time that you want it. Heavenly father knows us better then we know ourselves and knows exactly when we need that answer or sign in our life. Be patient and long suffering and the Lord will bless your life with increased knowledge.

Elder Willis

Oi!! Olá todos!! I hope everyone has had a great week!! I love you guys and am grateful for all of you!! The new area is amazing!! The people are so loving and our branch is just so great!! I love the language even tho I can’t understand like anything or talk at all haha!! But let’s get into this week!! 

Well this week was a lot of learning haha I feel like I’m starting back at square 1!! But it’s nice to have Elder Bell as my comp! He’s a great teacher and has been patient with me in learning the language!! But my highlight this week was getting to know the people here.  I have never felt so much love and warmth so far on my mission than this branch here!! Everyone welcomed me and called me by name!! I felt welcomed and loved right from the start.  I love the language and the culture and I can’t wait to get to know them better!! 

Something funny that happened this week is I literally got to church and understood like 10 percent of what was going on 🤣🤣 the cool thing was the spirit was the same of course but like people would come up to me and just start talking I’d just smile and catch like one or two words enough to get the gist of what people were saying haha!! It was hilarious because I felt like the greenie in the Best Two Years…”This isn’t what they taught me in the MTC!!!” That’s literally how I felt haha!!

My spiritual thought is actually from Preach my Gospel!! I’ve been studying in of course the learning your mission language section HAHA!! There’s this quote by President Thomas S. Monson that I just absolutely loved!! 

“There is one language … that is common to each missionary—the language of the Spirit. It is not learned from textbooks written by men of letters, nor is it acquired through reading and memorization. The language of the Spirit comes to him who seeks with all his heart to know God and keep His divine commandments. Proficiency in this language permits one to breach barriers, overcome obstacles, and touch the human heart”

I loved this quote!! It’s helped me understand that as long as I work on my own conversion it doesn’t matter if my Portuguese is awful!! Because the spirit will touch their hearts and teach them!! But I hope you all have a great week and keep being amazing!! 

Amo vocês!! Tchau tchau!!

Elder Castillo 

Fotos!! 

Good morning!! 

This week was another wild one. I’m doing something kind of weird and going to dollar tree and buying dog treats because I’m sick of dogs chasing us and barking. We might play disc golf so that should be fun 

Tuesday

We got chastised hard today by our mission president. There have been some disobedient missionaries in the mission that got sent home. So he went hard on us today at zone conference. Things are tightening up and I’m not trying to get sent home. Everyone was shook in the room. You know he’s about to say something serious when he starts our saying how he loves all of us. 

Wednesday 

We had a pretty solid day, we worked  out did our studies and had some nice taco bell. What a blessed place to be. We taught some awesome families and focused a lot on the plan of salvation and the importance of it. Nothing to crazy happened today but it was a solid one.

Thursday 

I had my exchange with Elder Burningham today in Grantsville. It was crazy being back in the apartment that I lived in on day 1 in the mission. We taught some people I remembered which was awesome. The craziest thing happened while sitting in the car today. I was trying to clean my hands off and  accidentally sprayed the hand sanitizer in my eye, I jerked back my head and hit the windshield and made a huge crack in it. Don’t know how my head doesn’t hurt and how I cracked it. It was about a foot long. I got a tough head I guess. I saw Mike at the end of the night and it was so awesome. Mike was so happy to see me cause it’s been a whole year now. It was a good day in Grantsville.

Friday 

We had zone council today and it was pretty solid. I gave a training about the importance of being disciplined on the mission and how it translates to life after the mission. We had Nayeli’s baptism and it went really well and she loved it so much. Also we saw a lady at the apartments scratching the ground like crazy and screaming. She was high on something and it was sad to watch. We tried to give her water but she ran away. Keep the word of wisdom.

Saturday 

Working out today by back spazzed out and it hurt so bad. I could barely walk for part of the day so that sucked. We had a service and afterwards the guy took us to his basement where he made an old western saloon. It was the coolest basement ive ever seen. He has a civil war flag, guns, and medals from his great great grandfather that is worth more than his whole house. We had some good lessons today and found a new person to teach.

Sunday 

Chill Sabbath day. We went to a missionary farewell for the kid we baptizeds brother. He is a super cool dude and we will miss him. We got to eat lunch at their house so that was nice. Watched our missions live stream and downloaded my photos to my phone. We went to a missionary panel where they asked us all types of questions, it was a ton of fun. We had a call with our mission president tonight because he wants to go teaching with us on Wednesday. Scary but awesome!

Spiritual thought: 

2nd Nephi 31:3 

For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.

 The lord is a God of plainness and simplicity. We are all at different stages in life and God will answer our prayers according to our own understanding. He wants you to have a surety that he knows you personally as our father in heaven. He loves and cares for all of us here on earth and will always be there for us. The lord hath not forsaken us.

Elder Willis