September 30, 2013

Ha! What a killer letter you sent. Aaah, Gratitude has always been a tender subject for me. So there is nothing like receiving a Gratitude  letter! You know, it’s amazing to recognize the tender mercies in our lives and we get that great feeling of gratitude in the heart that comes from the spirit. And then you share that with me, and just you sharing your personal gratitude hits me hard. Muito Obrigado for sharing Mom! You know, as missionaries we always know that God will bless our families while we are out. But being isolated from the family as a missionary, sometimes it is hard to really see Him pouring out the blessings. I can’t wait to go on some morning walks with you, It’s definitely going to happen since I already have the habit of waking up early, and then putting on the 3 hours of time change. Well I am so glad, you made my day, and that is saying something.

Well I guess I will share what happened today with transfers. I WAS TRANSFERRED! The crazy thing as well, so was my compnion, Elder Monical. There were some surprises in the transfers for sure. First of all, today is Elder Galves’ birthday, and what a better gift then being called to be Assistant of the President for your last transfer! Ha, wowzers! Good for him. It will help him finish off his mission working hard and not getting trunky! My very first companion is an Assistant! I guess that is cool! As for my companion, Elder Monical, here is a good surprise, he got put on Staff! He will be our Referral Secretary. So he will be doing a bit of what Gma & Gpa Smith do on their mission and he gets to spend some good time in downtown Aldeota. I think it will be very good for him. It was cool because I got to eat lunch with him today there, and I also have a lot of contact with him. Sister Bailey got put as the First Sister Trainer Leader thingy. Ha, funny thing is now she is the most experienced Sister in the Mission, and I think she will be returning home with me!

Oh yeah, and as for me! You might want to know that,right? Well I got transferred to a place called Conjunt de Ceará. It is very condensed here. I will be with Élder Soares. Also, I am a Zone Leader now! Ha, I must be getting old!  Bishop called that one. I am the first of my group. But wow, Zone Leader. Zone Leaders have always been my heroes in my mission. I have had a few that have made a big difference to me and now I am so happy to have this same privilege to serve and help raise these Elders up as great servants of the Lord. So Yeah! Crazy Stuff! I am excited, It will be interesting though, I will be sure to fill you in on the adventures we will have in our Zone.

Pheeeww... And I have still have a ton to tell you about Expedicionários and the last week I had in it. I had to work very hard this last transfer to keep our quality of work up. Tuesday we had weekly planning and for one of the first times in my mission I was kinda dreading to do it. (Usually weekly planning and Tuesdays are my "WOOT WOOT! Let’s get pumped for the next week" time) I wanted to finish off strong. Ha, in fact this last transfer was probably the most stress I have ever had in my life.... and if you know me, I am not a very stressed out person. I may be high-wired and hyper-active, but stressed... nooo.. Anyways, that left me pondering a bit about stress. That day I learned a lot. I liked a scripture that I found in Alma 7:24 which states "And see that ye have ^afaith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works." Usually we get stressed when we have so much to do.  We get stressed when we don’t have faith, hope or charity. Also I thought a lot about how we must have a perfect balance of Patience and Diligence in our working lives. 

Anyways, after Tuesday, things started to look up. We started to find new people to teach, and then I also had a gratitude moment. I really realized how much the Lord has made me into a very capable Elder. Wow, it’s really incredible I would make the little Greenie Elder Cetraro so proud. When I have a great attitude of abundance, full of faith, hope, and charity, I really can move things along. It made me happy. The Lord prepares the way when you have the faith. 

Also everybody kinda already knew that I would be leaving. So this last week was definitely used to say my good-byes. Evellyn got confirmed, and we did good work this last week intergrading her, and her Mom with some members. So I hope the work will continue on there, especially after all the work we invested there this whole transfer. Ivanilda and Patric are doing well. Patric passed the sacrament to me Sunday. Wow, first time someone I baptized used their priesthood to give me the sacrament. He also is starting to bring his kids again to church. The Ward will do a service project there in Eliza’s house, that will be a great miracle! As for Tiara, Wow, she never ceases to amaze me. She gave me a little pocket Bible that I can use in proselyting, and then she gave a talk this last Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. She is a star. Of course, as well, my best friend Bishop Feitosa gave me plenty of thanks in every meeting we had there. He testified that I really left a mark there in the Ward, and that I will never be forgotten. I love Bishop, So yeah, that is how it went down.

As for my time I spent there in Expedicionários, wow, it really was a place of growth for me. It was there that I really learned and grew in leadership and I believe the turning point of my mission where I began to really be an instrument in the Lord´s hands, blessing many. I know that the Lord is always there to invest in us, and what He asks in return is to do service, joyfully with great happiness in our hearts. I know that the Learning Journey Never Ends. I am very happy. There isn’t a bigger blessing than being able to participate in the Lord’s work, and I sure do know that I have a loving family that is backing it all up. I love you all and I hope God’s mercies continue to pour upon us both as we press forward in our new chapters of our lives. Até Próxima Semana!

-Elder Zachary Cetraro

Well hey there!

Wow, summer is still going. Sounds like the kids could be having the best summer of their lives. Ha I’m even getting a bit jealous. And that’s strange, because I thought nothing beats missionary work! It’s weird to think about school. It seems so far a way. I don’t feel so much like a kid anymore... I actually want to go to school!

Anyways, as for your questions. It turns out that he (the child that drowned) was found shortly after the photo, everyone was searching for him. They had some lifeguards there and it sounds like they did 30 minutes of CPR and when it was time to do the shocky dealio it was advised not to do it.

But as for the area, I stuck with the thought of Gordon B. Hinckley that I love, "Put your trust in God" and things weren’t as bad as they seemed they were. But the thing is we didn’t work much in Expedicionários this week. Both of the Sister’s companionships had their greenie being a sickie, so they all passed the whole week in the hospital. But it was a miracle how everything worked out. Since I was able to work in one of the wards I was able to continue the work and help a lady prepare for baptism for this week and some brothers for next week. It was good and kinda cool to work in the new area, but it was just a little weird because I felt like I was kinda working not full-heartedly because of our unsure future. I didn’t have that full zing of proclaiming the gospel that I usually did, but it was a very good week still.

The Sisters are better now, and they should be working this next week. My companion is getting a little sick. I hope it goes away. Sister Bailey’s Mom passed away. She told me and Elder Medrado privately, but usually she has been calling my comp for support, which makes sense since they are in the same boat.

I did get to travel plenty this week and we used the buses a lot. We always have a Book of Mormon in hand so it’s good to read and to do contacts. I have a goal to memorize the chapters (what happens in each chapter) of the Book of Mormon. I’ve got up to the book of Mosiah down.

Besides that, Sunday was really good. It’s crazy because the ward is super happy and super excited to have us in the ward, but I think it’s a bit sad because it is probably just for a week or so. The baptism was funny because the woman I baptized, Mara, is pregnant, and she is big in general. The font wasn’t full, so we ended up doing the baptism sitting down. It was great and she thought it was pretty special. Besides that, P-day was chill today and we have zone conference and transfers this next week. So yeah! I would say that’s my update for the week.

Love ya Fam!

-Elder Zac Cetraro

Alright. Now for my week. Well it was probably one of my saddest. So first of all, with the district meeting we had Wednesday morning, we had the pleasure to have President Souza there. A bit of stage fright for me because I directed the meeting and gave half of the training but it was alright. It was even harder when I found out that the reason President Souza was there was to talk with Sister Bailey about her family. Apparently, her Mom got cancer when she started her mission and this next week it is kinda planned for her to die. I felt terrible. This Sister just got over Dengue (a virus from mosquitoes) and here comes the second punch, her mom is about to die. I wanted to cry. I wanted to help but I didn’t know how. I decided to fast to clear up this confusion in my head, and for her. 

Then here comes the big news. After a long hard good day of work on Friday night we get home and find out that President is coming over. I thought maybe it was to check out how the situation is with 4 Elders in a very small house, and to do a cleaning check. As we all were climbing the stairs, he grabbed my companion. I didn’t notice and when I saw that Pres. and my Comp weren’t there I went to go down but Sister Souza stopped me and told me that his Dad died......

Wow. Ouch. It was tough news. I started to cry and pray for my companion. It was even tougher to hear him coming into the room bawling. I began to cry as well. I gave him a big "Father’s Hug” him crying in my arms. But that was all that I could do. He went into his room to call his bishop and his mom and to talk with them. I personally have never had to deal with a sudden sad death like this with those so close to me. President told me that this would be one of the great lessons I will learn here on the mission. How to deal with deaths in my life and in the lives of those around me. It was real sad. President left, and Elder Medrado opened up his journal and started writing. I just stayed there by his side all night until 2 o’clock as he wrote out his emotions. He used that temple handkerchief you gave me (that was a whole lot better than the toilet paper he was using)

This death, in my opinion shows a bit of the tender mercies God has in our lives, and I tried to help Elder Medrado with this point of view. You only will pass through the death of your Father once in your life, and God has really made it sweet. For a bit of time, his Dad has had heart problems and he almost died 3 years ago. During this time Elder Medrado didn’t get along with his Dad very well and didn’t go visit his Dad in the hospital after one attack. His cousin called and told him that he had actually died, and this was a bitter moment for him, that he ended his relationship with his Dad like this. But of course his Mom called and told him it was a lie, but in this moment it really opened his eyes. For in the 3 years since, the relationship between him and his Dad got a whole lot better and they left on a good note.

It is incredible though how God prepared him for this moment. There have been various things that have happened to give him a cushion for all this. Being a missionary, you never will be alone, you always have someone at your side. All your friends are "Representatives of Jesus Christ" and he is surrounded by them and their service, and there isn’t a time in our lives that we are so close to our Savior. Another special thing, a couple weeks ago, he woke up on P-day and felt inspired to write his dad personally. That day I didn’t want to go to the post office because it didn’t fit into the schedule, but I felt that we should go anyways. His dad got to see that. Also, Mom. You felt "inspired" to write Elder Medrado instead of me and express your love to him. That was very nice and perfect timing. Sister Bailey is passing the same time and has help. There were many things in our studies together this last week that helped us prepare for this, including my study on Honor. And yesterday Elder Medrado received his Patriarchal Blessing. And also yesterday, he bore his testimony to me that he knows that I was prepared to be "His Father" here on the mission to pass this moment in his life with him.

I really saw the truth of the last words that Brother Eaton told to me before I left for the mission. "That sometimes the people that need our service the most on our missions can be our companions." I know God arranged this to be in his life and in my life. I am super grateful to be here for my wonderful companion and to really learn how to comfort when they really need it. My comp needs your prayers, and so do I so that I can continue to serve him and help him stay strong. I am super surprised to see how strong he has been since then. In the last few days he has been surprisingly strong, and hasn’t had a problem yet. I know he still has that burden but I know what Jesus said. "Blessed are those that mourn, for they will be comforted."

Well there goes my time but I am doing fine. Don’t worry about me. Elder Medrado really liked the quote I shared with him Sunday, that "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get.” Maybe it may be a surprise, and maybe it may not be the flavor you wanted. But it’s chocolate, so you gotta appreciate it. Really this came to truth here, and is true for the mission. I know God is painting a masterpiece in those that serve me. I trust Him. He trusts me.

Love,

-Elder Zachary Cetraro