Heeey Faaam!
WoW! I just noticed that I almost am at week 100!! That’s a good chunk of time! I think I will only have 101 weeks in my mission.. Cool! Anyways.... speaking of Trunky. Today I lived the literal meaning of trunky. So as for transfers, I stayed! I will finish my mission here in Bom Jardim. (Which means that I spent 2012 in Juazeiro, all of 2014 in Bom Jardim, and in 2013 I passed in ALL of my areas, funny huh??) Ha, so the next time I will have to arrange my bags... it will be the last time I will have to arrange my bags! (Hallelujah!)  Today I didn’t have to go to Aldeota (the mission office) so we had some spare time in the house. Everyone just wanted to lay down and chat (and we never have time to do that or probably will this transfer) and you know me being full of proactivity, I decided that I would sit... and chat... and organize my miscellaneous bag (Where I throw whatever). Hahaha now that’s trunky, but I know that it’s gonna need real organization and I am not going to leave that for my last week! So yeah... It’s starting to sink in.

Okay, well for my week. You asked me how many baptisms we had this month. The month ended up having 23 baptisms. Which is the best we have had while I have been here, but I know that it can be better. This month we will have Elder Anderson (the Apostle) come visit here!!!!  And Ulysses Soares (Seventy President, maybe someday the first Brazilian apostle) will come directly to Bom Jardim! So maybe that will help us all get excited. In our area we have 3 couples that are planning to be married this month so that’ll be great. Also as for retention, there is a countless number of inactive members here, but President Souza is famous for how he has helped Fortaleza retain more baptisms. As for my recent converts in the last 2 areas, I know that 90% are still active. So I feel good, but it really is a battle to retain here. I have a great love and gratitude for the recent-converts, that was actually what I told the Zone members this month. Anyways, it’s all good here.

This week I left my area in a companionship exchange for the first time in 2 months. I visited my good friend Elder Wall, and also my other good friend Elder Wadsworth It was pretty great. Some cool things that happened with Elder Wadsworth. First, I met their Ward Mission Leader who just barely got back from Rio, and turns out he was  a companion with my companion from the MTC. Ha, and do you remember when we went to do something with my driver’s license and that lady started to talk about how cool Brazilians are and how if you meet them one day they will invite you to their kid’s birthday party the next day? Well that just happened. Ha, Elder Wadsworth literally met a family the day before and our last appointment we swung by and just us and the family that lives there celebrated this kid’s 10th Birthday. Ha! I thought that was pretty funny, but it really is that way here.

This last Sunday, every dupla in our District had a baptism to do, but the plumbing went wrong.... so Sunday morning, the Elders from the afternoon ward came and filled up the font with BUCKETS!! Hahaha it was super sweet, and it was great. We baptized Cosmo, who is a 16 year old that is part of the family we baptized. We didn’t baptize him before because we thought he would return to live with his Gramma again, but it turns out that he liked the church so much that he ended up staying!

Ha, good stuff... well I would like to invite you and the Fam to pray for me as much as you can. I want to finish off my mission the best that I can. I know that my return is just around the corner, but every time you think about me, do a personal prayer that I finish off the mission strong, with plenty of baptisms and the finishing touches the Lord needs to do for this return missionary okay?! Let’s go! até próxima semana!

-Élder Cetraro

Hey there!
Alrighty, so I guess I will report the week for y'all. So this week we had our Christmas Conference. That was fun. Elder Villalba and I came up with a song on the spot that we sang to President Souza "Graças damos à Deus por Presidente" It was funny, but last year’s was much much better.  But the most spiritual part for me was when the Elders that are leaving bore their last testimony. Wow. I am getting close, I can feel it. My whole life I have been preparing myself for this thing we call "The Mission", and now my time is running to home plate. Anyways, it was good.

The work this week was slowed down a bit. We had to do a lot of interviews (that’s good!) and figuring out things for a wedding of an old couple that were baptized this last week. This last transfer has probably been the best transfer of my mission. In 5 weeks (A short transfer) we baptized 12 people, and that was 3 families as well. Ohh the blessings... it really is incredible. But all good things come to an end, and guess what? I was transferred!

I left Genibaú. I am now in Ala Bom Jardim. Ha, funny thing is, following the pattern of my mission..... I am opening up another area! (Which means that me and my companion get there at the same time and basically have to start from scratch) And that is suuuuper rare with Zone Leaders as well. The Zone Batizadora divided and now we are Zone Leaders of the Zone, Bom Jardim. Even funnier is who is my companion, Elder Christiansen. Ha! Maybe I haven’t talked much about him but he was our District Leader in Genibaú and he has lived with me for the last 3 months, and now he is my companion. That’s super rare that you become companions with somebody that you know! So yeah, we will see how it goes! But yeah, I will be passing the Holidays in Bom Jardim.

I love you guys and I can’t wait to skype ya next week! I have been growing out my hair just for you guys!!

 tchau!
-Elder Zac Cetraro

Heellllloooooo Family!!
I am super happy and excited today! Ha, transfers always are exciting!  The best thing is this week our Zone baptized 10 people! So we finished off strong. I also gave a talk this last Sunday that was very good. I decided to follow the Prophet’s lead and talk about the impact doing visits have in the lives of people. Of how we can help in the missionary work if we really are reaching out and being a friend to those around us. I compared it to when Jesus visited here in the Americas and the great impact that it made and really outlined how we can do visits like Christ. The best part about it all was when I was preparing my talk, I could just feel the spirit teaching me all that. It was awesome.

Also we had the baptism of Aline this last week. She was super ready to receive the gospel. She is super excited because she is a fiancé with a less active member. She basically reactivated him and now they are super happy and preparing to go to the temple next year. She came prepared. We taught her like 2 real lessons.

Okay now for transfers. WOW!! So yeah basically, Elder Helvey, my dear housemate, is now Secretary, so I will see him in the Office every week. I got a new companion, Elder Villalba. He was my Zone Leader with Elder Galves there in Expedicionários when I was with Elder Monical. He is from Paraguay and just a giant happy friendly kid basically. He is super funny, and he is just what I need right now. Also my Zone EXPLODED!! It had 10 missionaries last transfer and now it has 18! That is a big jump! WOOOOWWW!!! So I can see that the Lord is really trusting in us now with this great growth that is being given to us!

tchau!!
Elder Cetraro

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

I am here at a LANhouse in Aldeota and I’m a couple blocks away from the ocean, which I plan on passing by today since I haven’t seen it the whole time I have been here. So did I get transferred to the beach??? Ha actually.... No.

Alrighty, so how was my last week of the transfer?!  Well it was pretty interesting to tell you the truth. Like I said in my last email, the Ward Rodolfo Teófilo loved us and welcomed us really well when we were there. When it came to weekly planning Tuesday, we kinda hit a wall. Plan for which ward?!?! I really felt like I was in the middle of a Ward Tug-a-war, between our beloved Ward Expedicionários and our new exciting Ward Rodolfo Teófilo. I called the assistant to see what the plans were for the next transfer, and he basically gave us the choice. You know me, I don’t choose. I analyze and state the pros and cons, but anyways it came down to prayer. After this I really felt like I was ordained to work here in Expedicionários and even though I could see that I would have more fruits in the other ward, God chose that place for the Sisters, and it is my job now to really trust in them to do the great work instead of going there and doing it for them. Interesting thing is that the Sisters that I take care of, had 3 months of training and a senior companion and after that, they become the experienced ones, and trained the newbies that are constantly coming in. I know I am the Elder that I am because of the great seniors that I have already had, so I will really try this next week to help them with this aspect.

This week was also Zone Conference and we had the whole mission there in the chapel where we do our district meeting. It was super good. Talked a lot about desire and objectives, and how we really need to get the abilities. I have really realized that this is something I really need to work on. Abilities. As you guys know, I pick up things quickly.... or I don’t. I never have been one to really self dedicate to practicing something. I like to learn, but apply and practice is different. I know mastering this now, will really help me here in the future. Besides that, we returned back to work in our old area basically from scratch.

This week Elder Medrado was sick like I said. Last week he thought it was dengue, then a fever, then a sore throat, but it turns out it was just a canker sore. My Sisters had Dengue the worst thing they could get and this Elder was whining more about a canker. It was hard for us both. I ended up preaching everything for a couple of days. But he got better and we finished off chill. I am ready to have a normal week again.

So as for transfers, soooooo...... I stayed. But Elder Medrado was transferred.... It was a great opportunity to train Elder Medrado. I can honestly say it was a little experience of raising a real child. You really want to give them the best start that they can get so that they can achieve great things in their missions. I truly loved Elder Medrado like a son. And I truly feel blessed to be chosen and entrusted by God to have had this very important role in his mission.

And as for me, well turns out that I was designated to be a "Language Trainer" for a missionary that is arriving right now from the USA. He has already had 2 transfers there (in the US) but I will have to help him adjust to his real mission... so yeah. I don’t really have more details on that one. But for today I am hanging out with Elder Wadsworth from Grace Idaho, and it is his dream to live in Logan. Good stuff...

But that’s all for today, love ya'll and have a great first week of school!

-Elder Zachary Cetraro

Olá Minha Mãe!

How’s it goin’ up there? We had some changes down here, but not too much. So today was transfers, right? So this week we were really antsy to see what would go down, because we knew that our area would split into two areas. Ha, so this whole week we were warning everyone, and on top of wondering if we will leave or not, there also was the thought which ward will we stay in? So this week we were switching off just about every day on what we thought would happen. Also we discussed which ward would we like to stay in and what would we do. It’s hard to pick favorites, right?

Anyways, last night we got the news that I would leave and Elder McLaws would stay. So we had two last suppers, one with that family with did Easter with, the other with the owner of the house. Ha, well..... after this morning waking up super early to pack my bags, we got to transfers to see that actually I was leaving my old area to work in the new area, which is one of the wards of our old area... Did you catch all that? So basically I am staying. Ha, it just was pretty funny at transfers though because I had everything packed and ready to leave.

So Elder McLaws will finish off his mission here in Ala Castelão (The area with Luyan, the cozinhas, where Jurandi used to live, where Luzia, the Mom of Laiz, and all that) And I will work in Ala Jardim Castelão. (Where Easter family lives, and where we like to fly kites) So yeah.  A little complicated but it will be cool living with 4 elders and it will be interesting doing splits in the other ward.

But now I am with Elder Barbosa! He seems like quite the stud muffin. To me he seems like basically a studly Brazilian Texan-like cowboy who rocks at the guitar. He has 1 year and 3 months and is from São Paulo. I’ll get to know him well here. It will be good to practice the language with him. It looks like he wants to learn English, he speaks pretty good.

But yeah, that’s just about it for news here. The week was a little slow. Hopefully things will revitalize now that we split, and we can focus better.

I can’t believe that stupid package made it back. I thought it would be coming back here but guess not!

That’s my little spiel for the week, Love ya’ll!

-Elder Cetraro

Editor’s Note: I sent Zac a 13 pound Christmas package on October 31, 2012. It has been to Brazil and back twice and I thought I would never see it again. It showed up on our doorstep April 23, 2013, just 6 months shy of travelling the world. It had been cut open and taped shut, probably for customs inspection. Everything was there and pretty much intact. The jar of Nutella had exploded but surprisingly the contents survived well.

Alrrriiiighty, so transfers were today. And almost nothing happened here! Everyone in my district stayed expect our Zone Leader, Elder Ribeiro left. Today we cleaned a lot, it’s funny how it is necessary to have these time periods like transfers to give us time to review and fix. The house is getting a little messy and I am hoping that we will be able to do some leaps in this transfer. This last week was really interesting because I did splits with Elders in our district 5 days in a row. 2 days with the Zone Leaders, and one of them was spent going to the Center to help with his ingrown toenail. It was really cool to walk around in Aldeota. I felt like I was back in the United States and away from all the ghetto-y-ness. I felt like I belonged there with my collared shirt and tie you know.

This weekend our zone had 16 baptisms so we had a lot to do this weekend. We had two. One was Luian. The nephew of a member that we have been teaching the entire transfer. He is kinda a worldly young adult that is really smart with the Word of Wisdom and Chastity and has really good gospel knowledge. He is living with his Uncles but is from another state. Here he keeps the commandments with no problem (he doesn’t do anything social) so he wasn’t sure if he would continue on or not. Some how, he finally made the decision. I blame the Book of Mormon and FHE.

The other baptism is Jurandi´s sister, Shayla. WOW, the weird thought that came to me yesterday is that this is like teaching Keegan because she is 14 years old. But oooooh mmyyyyy gooossshhh I don’t think I have ever seen something so simple and so profound and beautiful as watching Jurandi baptizing his sister. I really feel like your favorite little quote “A missionary is someone who leaves their family for 2 years so others can be with theirs eternally” is finally being fulfilled. The Mom really wants to get baptized but needs to get married and it has been hard to sit down with the Dad but I have the faith that it will all work out. So yeah. Pretty sweet. 

It is real hard to work with families here because no one is married here. You really have to be patient with marriages and they have to be elect because it doesn’t work to pass a lot of time with all the unmarried couples that it will take about a month to baptize. Jurandi´s family has been really good.

Things haven’t changed much with living in the "city”. It is like the West Jordan here of Salt Lake. So it isn’t much different than Juazeiro. The wind is awesome though.

Fortaleza is pretty sweet. My P-day has been pretty lame, I am not going to lie. There is nothing at all to do in our areas. Today I will play piano, next week maybe I will buy and fly a kite. Ha, that’s what all the little kids are doing here. But I am really happy and can’t really complain. Just got to keep pushing forward, and keep learning and growing.

We had a Seventy talk to our mission this last week and I’m hoping my faith will grow and miracles will happen. I am not going to lie; I feel like in our area the work has been slow. I feel like I need to somehow transfer my enthusiasm to my Comp because the mish is not a one-man-job. For me though, something needs to change because I refuse to work at the pace we are. So we will see what this transfer holds for me. 

I love ya!

-Elder Cetraro

Heeeyyy there! 

Email will be fun today, because for sure I have a boatload to tell! Well... I got transferred!! It’s official, I am here in Fortaleza. I will be serving in the ward Castelão. Google Castelão, supposedly it is where some of the World Cup games are going to be played! It is kinda crazy, it is right down the street and it is MASSIVE. So just about every day now I will be passing by that. It is seriously like 3 blocks away from my new house.

So the new Comp is actually a fun story. His name is Elder McLaws. He actually arrived in my zone Juazeiro last transfer right before Christmas. He was a district leader so the zone leaders did divisions with him, and he lived with some Elders in our district so we did divisions there. So I actually knew him pretty well. He actually has a little bit of roots there in Cache Valley. His said he was raised there until age 8 and then moved to Oregon. He then came back for college; Go Aggies Go Aggies HEY HEY HEY! (I also worked with his sister a little bit at the Pita Pit, small world) So on the brutal bus ride here last night we ended up sitting/sleeping next to each other, little did we know we’d be companions the next day! Lol. It doesn’t seem like we are real companions and that we are just on a division right now. But he is pretty chill, same group as Elder Hodson. A very calm guy.

Anyways, we are opening an area, which means we are starting from nothing. Ha, kinda like last area. It looks like we are taking care of two wards. So Mom, and Family. I WILL NEED YOUR PRAYERS. Pray so that we can get the work rolling here. That we can get our feet steadied. Pray that I can fill the missionary pants and that I can replace all fear with faith and that I can do all the things that a missionary does. This will be my transfer where I shift from junior to senior. So there is that. I'll let you know how it goes this next week. It will be interesting.

Dude, who won the Super Bowl? 49er’s? Ha, I’m sure I’ll find out by next week. But how was my last week? It was good! Elder Hodson had surgery on his toe. So we swung by the hospital a lot this week to clean that up. So the work got a little bit slow, but it was a little weird to be making new investigators that I will never see again. Elder Hodson taught me this week that to be a good leader and a good missionary, the secret is to just be happy with the people and to make sure the missionaries are happy. It’s simple but it is true.

The miracle of the week is this picture that I sent here. My last Sunday, ALL my recent converts were there at church. (Except Agnaldo, who had work but I will never worry about him becoming inactive) That is rare. It really touched my heart. I was lucky enough to bear my last testimony in fast meeting, and I gave my last lesson which was on the creation. I had everyone say one thing that they were grateful for on this EARTH. Ha, but it turned into everyone just saying how grateful they are for the gospel in their lives, and how grateful they are for the missionaries... ha, and me! It was perfect. Donizete is going to get a calling; Cícero and Frank got the Aaronic Priesthood. WOW. I am so grateful for the opportunity to help the Lord with all this work.

ALSO! My last night I had the biggest surprise of my life! Ha, I have never had a surprise party before and I had no clue that this one was coming. So yeah, the same family that celebrated Christmas and New Years with us, offered to give me a ride with my bags to the bus stop. So their son picked me up a little early with everyone, and he said he had to grab something real quick in the house, so I went in just to say goodbye to Ivana and Urandy and SURPRISE!! Cake and everything inside waiting for me. Wow, I was so loved there. I love my mission. I want to be able to leave all my areas and my mission itself like this. I couldn’t of asked for better. 

Well, it is great to hear from you all. I will send a little bit more about Juazeiro and it’s impact next week, mmkay?

Muito obrigado, e eu am vocês!

-Elder Cetraro