We had our first missionary scandal . . .

This past week has been okay. Elder Cavalcanti has been suffering a bit from high blood pressure and migraine headaches, so we didn’t work as hard as in previous weeks. Hope we can ramp it back up soon.

The visit with the lawyer couple I told you about last week was cool, but they're pretty devout Catholic. We hope that one day they will go to church, and then all should change.

We went to teach English at a special English school called “Wizard,” which is the biggest chain of English schools in Brazil. It’s owned by a Latter-day Saint guy. We sat in front of their 12 teachers and answered their questions. It was fun. They all spoke English very well. They asked questions about religion, and what we think about Brazil, and what it’s like in the States. They even made us some apple pie and it was pretty good for not being American!

I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to be a zone leader over a large area, like Bauru, or Marilia. Thankfully, it's not nearly as hard when the area is smaller, like here in Cascavel, especially when all of your elders are obedient. However, yesterday we had our first missionary scandal unravel. It was interesting how Heavenly Father used us as instruments in His hands to figure out what was going on, and how to resolve it. He put us where we needed to be, at exactly the perfect moment, and helped us ask exactly what we needed to ask, in order to be told some news that was NOT good. But it needed to be discovered, and handled, and it was. It turns out there was an inappropriate relationship going on. Because of divine assistance, the issue was dealt with and said elder is headed to Londrina today to talk with President Tavares. Today was transfer day, which made it a little easier. On the flip side of this ordeal, we’re excited to be getting a lot of new missionaries, and as far as I know, there are no problematic ones. We’re super excited for the month of June

Last p-day I fulfilled another mission long dream. We went to the lake and we saw Capivara -- the world’s largest rodents!!!! They’re pretty awesome! They’re like guinea pigs on steroids!!! But, they were tame and lazy.

Well, tchau!
Elder Titus

The outside of our apartment in Cascavel

Awesome sunset!

Oi,

We had a quality week this week! Principally, because of the news that we get one more companionship of missionaries! They will be arriving in Cascavel next week. That will make 3 companionships in our ward. This is mainly because of the preparations being made for the ward being divided. President Tavares has been very impressed with the work that has been going on here in Cascavel. Elder Cavalcanti and I, had a meeting with the stake president last week and he is also very excited to work hard, and work together with us. When we told the bishop that one more companionship was coming, he hugged us really tightly. We will be the only ward in the mission to have 3 companionships.

We are currently teaching Beatriz´s daughter, Laurissa, and we are doing our best to get her ready to be baptized this Sunday. There is also a lawyer couple that is interested in our message. There is a member of the church who works for them as a maid, cleaning their house, and she asked for our assistance because the lady lawyer has cancer. Elder Cavalcanti went there and gave her a blessing, and two weeks later her doctor told her the cancer is gone. We’re going there tonight to see how she is feeling, and to find out if they would like to hear our lessons.

Things are going great! I apologize for the short blogs lately, but I’m using a lot of my p-day internet time to work on my college registration -- so please forgive me!!!! Hopefully I'll have it figured out soon. (And yes, I have permission!)

Have a great week!

Elder Titus

It was something I will never forget.

Yours truly.

Sister Tavares, President Tavares and me. I just can't stop smiling!

Elder Galdino, my adopted brother.

Some of my buddies from the MTC (left to right) Elder Burt, Elder Titus, Elder Parrott and Elder Yuma

Hey blogger buddies -- I only have a couple of minutes, but I wanted you to know

Surprise!!! I went to IGUAÇÙ FALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a surprise for all of us! On Monday we had a zone leader council meeting, and instead of traveling to Londrina, President Tavares held the meeting in the City of Foz do Iguaçú, and for p-day, he took us to the falls. It was SO COOL! Every elder that comes to this mission wants to go there, but it seldom happens. Finally I got my chance and was able to put my face in those classic pictures!! It was something that I will never forget. It's so massive! There are multiple falls, and all of them are huge and absolutely beautiful.

On Sunday we had the baptism of a lady named Beatriz. She is the fiancé of a member named Adenildo. The baptism was cool. It was funny though, because she was sooo nervous to get baptized and was even trembling in the water, but when she came out she said, "Wow, that was fast!" How tight! (que massa!)

Believe it or not, I'm out of time -- but hope ya enjoy the pictures.

Elder Titus

. . . and many were the words which he spoke unto us.

Elder McCombs gets a new blanket

Elder Thiago (zone leader from Iguaçu) drinking LOTS of açaì juice

Olá!

At the moment, I’m quite dead. Elder Cavalcanti and I, just got back this morning from a zone leader meeting in Londrina. The bus was nice, but the ride was horrible. It stopped every 20 minutes, in every little city, causing the trip to take 9 hours!! We left last night at 8:30 PM, and drove all night, and most of the morning. I got the last seat on the bus, right next to the bathroom, of which everyone and their mom used, consequently, I didn’t sleep very much.

BUT, the meeting was good. We were with Elder Araujo, of the Seventy. He was on special assignment from the First Presidency. He talked about how us zone leaders need to step up our game and not focus so much on doing divisions, unless our area is exemplary first. He also told us how leading by example is a lot more important than leading by words, because we´ll be able to show our zones that it’s possible to meet the goals of the mission . . . and many were the words which he spoke unto us.

At the end, he shared a story about when President Kimball came to Brazil. Elder Araujo was a missionary at the time. President Kimball was there to dedicate the Sao Paulo temple, and Elder Araujo was chosen to help escort President Kimball. One day, President Kimball was at the mission president’s house, taking a nap and the mission president had to leave, so he asked the missionaries to keep an eye on Presdient Kimball, and check up on him every now and then. Elder Araujo said that he went to check on him and he carefully opened up the door and saw President Kimball sleeping on the ground due to his back problems. He said that he had the greatest desire just to hug him and kiss him, but finally just shut the door. He went back outside and fell asleep on a chair. A while later, he was awakened by President Kimball, as he put his hands on Elder Araujo’s face. Then President Kimball hugged him and gave him a kiss, and then said “Lets go study the scriptures Elder.” He told him to open up to Alma 29:4, which reads “I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.” Then President Kimball said, “Was it not your desire to hug me and kiss me?”

Crazy. Then Elder Araujo told us that we need to have “just*" desire in our lives, and the Lord will grant them unto us.

Tchau,
Elder Titus

*just: morally correct (done, pursued, or given in accordance with what is morally right)

(from mom) Derek warned me last week that he might not get to a computer today due to a zone leader conference in Londrina (which is a 6 hour bus ride for him). But, two weeks ago was similar, and he got a chance to pop into an internet place for a few minutes on Tuesday -- so, I guess it wouldn't hurt to check back tomorrow evening and see if he was able to send something. As always, thanks for checking his blog!

Everyone knew about the baptisms, except the people who were to be baptized!

Note from mom: Last week Elder Titus didn't send his blog on Monday, as he usually does, and I left a note that said he had not blogged -- however, he sent it the next day. So, if you missed reading last week's post, be sure to check it out. It's a good one!

Easter lunch!

Baptism of Vitoria and Jennifer

Awesome birthday cake we made for Jennifer

Wow we had a GREAT week!!

President Tavares challenged the Londrina mission to have the best weekend that our mission has ever had, and it happened! We set a mission record of 38 baptisms in one week! Guess what the best part of that is? Seven of those came from the tiny little zone of Cascavel, and five of those came from me and Elder Cavalcanti. There is a city 2 hours away from here called Palotina that has a chapel, but no missionaries, and they wanted an elder to go there because they had some non-members who were attending church. So Elder Cavalcanti went there with the stake president and walked away with 3 baptisms. Everyone knew about the baptisms, except the people who were to be baptized! The stake president told the branch that they were going to have a baptism that weekend. So, the branch president called everyone and they filled the font. Then he walked into the house of the people who had been attending church, carrying 3 white baptismal suits and they accepted baptism. Amazing faith. Crazy!

Meanwhile, I stayed in Cascavel where we are teaching a family of five, but the parents aren’t married, and it’s taking forever to get it ready. They have 2 daughters that are baptismal age, Jennifer and Vitoria, who were so excited to get baptized on the 30th, but I asked the family, “Why wait until the 30th? Let’s do it this Sunday!” And we did. We are working hard with the parents to get everything ready so they can join their daughters next month. The baptismal service for the girls was really spiritual and everyone was crying. It was also Jennifer’s 11th birthday and we made her a cake. She told us that it was her best birthday ever. ahhh.

Well my time on the computer is even shorter now because I have to pass the numbers on to the secretaries, amongst other things.

Have a great week!
Elder Titus

. . . the winds of change shifted again!

Top row left to right: Elders Finato, Edimicio, Griner, Ghormley.
Bottom row left to right: Elders Ealey, Titus, Cavalcanti, de Oliveira

Olá friends,

I’m here in Cascavel. This week has been one of the most hectic weeks of my mission. So last week, after arriving at the bus station in Londrina with Elder McCombs, I called the Assistants to the President and asked where we would be sleeping, and they didn’t know, but said they were on their way. Then Elder Ayres gets all excited and asked me if I had heard the news. I said no, then he said, “Cascavel is no longer a district and because of the arrival of new missionaries, it has turned into a zone!!!” I said “Yea! Cool!” Then he waited a few seconds and said “and you have been called to be a zone leader!!!” . . . Well, so that’s probably some of the craziest news I’ve heard on my mission. I was hoping NOT to be one because it's tough work! But now that I’ve been called, I’m committed to give 110%. I’m zone leaders with Elder Cavalcanti (cav-aoo-cahn-chee) who is in my “leaving the mission group” (we all leave on August 17th). There are only 4 companionships in our zone, but we are united, strong and determined to baptize... a lot.

After that, we met up with some other missionaries and headed to the house we would be sleeping at. Just outside the bus station was a tribe of Indians, cooking dinner over a fire and making baskets to sell. We approached them and got to know them. They speak Portuguese and a native language called Guaraní. They are pretty civilized, but still live in villages. They are even Christian. So we took the opportunity to teach them about the restoration. They liked the part about the Book of Mormon, but unfortunately they don’t know how to read. Dang it! I wanted to baptize a Lamanite!

The next day we went to the trainers meeting and the assistants were busy with something else, so President Tavares chose me to translate for him, which wasn’t the first time, but it was the first time on a large scale basis. There were some 50 missionaries there, but it was really fun.

Then we had an 8 hour bus ride to Cascavel. Cascavel is a cool city, modern and clean, with about 300,000 people. There are 2 strong wards. Our ward is the biggest ward in the mission, with an average attendance of 190 members,and they are making plans to divide the ward, so everyone is stoked to work hard. The members are super nice. I wish I could talk about the investigators we have here, but I’m short on time. Needless to say we don’t knock doors here because we get a lot of member references.

On Saturday, the assistants came here to do some splits with me and Elder Cavalcanti. It went well. I went with Elder Ayres, and it was cool. He’s a great missionary! He has an uplifting personality, and is really excited.

On Monday morning we got a ride with President Tavares to the city of Iguaçu Falls for zone conference. It’s another 2 hours away. Let me say that the city of Iguaçu Falls is the hottest, most humid place that I have ever stepped foot in. Elder Ghormley calls it “a living hell on earth.” It has something to do with the falls and the monstrous lake the dam makes. They say it changed the climate forever. Either way, lets just say I’m glad I’m not serving there.

On the way back we took a charter bus, and just outside of Iguaçu Falls the cops stopped us to do a drug test because it’s on the border of Argentina and Paraguay, and there are no border police, so it’s a port for drug trafficking. A really mean looking cop opened the door and unleashed his German Shepherd, and he went running and sniffing through the bus and the people, including getting a good whiff of me in a strange place. Thankfully there weren’t any drugs, and we were let free. Had there been drugs all of the passengers would have been taken to the police station and interviewed.

So, here were are now. Currently Elder Cavalcanti is in another city that doesn’t have missionaries, but has a branch, called Palotina (shut down by my trainer Elder da Silva.....). I guess they are preparing some people to be baptized!!

Well, I wrote a lot! So hope you have a great week -- more details next week!!!

Tchau,
Elder Titus