March 21, 2011 It's Time for Tea

Dear Everyone,

Hello again from the city of São Paulo! This week flew by and was really interesting. São Paulo is going through a cold wave right now. It´s staying around 60 degrees everyday which is really odd for this time of year because it is still summer down here. It´s been raining a lot also and I haven´t had to use sunscreen because there hasn´t been blue sky in over a week. The chilly weather is prompting everyone to make us tea and I gotta say that I have really developed a liking for the herbal pick me up. They add a ton of sugar so it´s always sweet and there are a million different flavors. Today I had rose tea! It was bright pink and so good!

Anyway we started the week off with district meeting on Tuesday and after the meeting we did an exchange with the Elders of area Horizonte Azul (Blue Horizon). Elder Amauri da Silva is one of the district leaders that I follow up with as part of my zone leader responsibilities. I went to their area while Elder D. Silva stayed in Aracatí with Elder Mota. It was a great exchange. We didn´t have lunch so Elder Amauri made lunch but in the middle of cooking our propane ran out so we had to carry the empty tank to the nearest trade station and carry the full tank back to their house before we could finish cooking. We visited their baptisimal candidates and the visits were kind of crazy. We taught a woman about the word of wisdom and she said that if God himself appeared and told her to stop drinking coffee she wouldn´t! Sometimes you just want to yell at people (and some elders do), but that´s not the way I like to work.

We undid the exchange but went right into another with the Elders of Riviera Paulista. Elder D. Silva went with Elder Nunes to their area and I stayed with Elder Lima. It´s Elder Lima´s second transfer but he is already an awesome missionary. I almost got lost a few times in Aracatí but we managed to make a few good visits.

President Jackson had last minute zone trainings so we headed to Ferreira (mission headquarters) to undo the exchange and have the meeting. We had no idea what it was going to be but it basically turned into a movie day. We watched 'The District 2' again and then discussed what we learned from the film. It was great.

Friday and Saturday was our time to really buckle down and work in the area. We have an incredible woman marked for baptism this week. Her name is Neuçi and her daughter is Gabriella. She is elect, elect, elect! The first time we visited her she asked us to pray with her to get a job and the next day she was called to be a cleaning woman. The downside was that it was way difficult to find her at home because of her new job. We finally got a chance to visiter her Saturday night to teach her the word of wisdom and she was already living it! She doesn´t work on Sundays so she´ll be able to go to church every week. We miraculously made a contact with her sister Alice in the street and Neuçi had already invited her to church!

Sunday was pretty good. We had 9 people in the chapel! It was so close to our goal of 10! But what can you do? People have their agency to do what is right and go to church or to stay in bed and get some extra sleep. Honestly, both options sound great. haha! But seriously, GO TO CHURCH! In the afternoon we visited Neuçi, Gabriella, and Alice and they made us a cake and, of course, tea. This week we´re going to have to visit Neuçi really early in the morning before she goes to work to finish up all the lessons before baptism. At night, Pres. Jackson gave a fireside at one of the wards in our zone so we got most of the missionaries together to sing 'Faith In Every Footstep' for the closing hymn. Sis. Jackson played the piano and Pres. Jackson´s sister who´s visiting the mission played the violin. It turned out really good.

Today is P-day and this morning we got together with some of the Elders in our zone and played Uno for a few hours. They have a ton of crazy brasilian rules which make things a lot more interesting. For example, the person that loses has to drink a liter of water and you have to keep playing until someone throws up. Luckily we didn´t have time to go that long and I was pretty close to breaking. And now I´m here in the Lan House writing to all of you.

I hope this week brings lots of blessings and opportunities to learn and grow for you all. I know that God answers prayers and that no effort is vain. Please keep the prayers coming (and also a few letters).

Elder MacLane Taggart

March 14, 2011 Gotta Get in the Zone

Hey World!

Well, it has begun. I´m a zone leader and it is so busy but really good.

Last Tuesday was the transfer meeting so my new area... Aracatí! It´s way cool! It´s an island in the middle of a resevoir. My new companion is Elder D. Silva. He is incredible! He only has one transfer more than I do but I feel like a kid next to him. He knows how to teach, how to lead, how to everything. I´m definitely going to learn a ton from him. But we´re pretty much just two newbies pretending to be zone leaders here in zona guarapiranga.

My first day in the area we were walking down the street and pretty much everyone on the street knew us and stopped to talk to us. It was cool.

We have some pretty good investigators. Our baptismal goals are Nelçi, Gabriella, and Maxuel. Nelçi is a really new investigator but she already accepted to be baptized this month and is way open. Her daughter is Gabriella and they are really struggling right now because Nelçi lost her job. But the first time we taught her we prayed that she would find a job and the next day she received a call to work as a house cleaner so that´s a miracle. Maxuel is the son of a member family. He is a little rebellious so we´re going to do a fast with his family so that he will feel the desire to be baptized.

We have meetings all the time. I had to go to the mission office for a district leader training to learn about baptismal interviews and such. It was good. Later in the week we had a meeting with the bishops in the new chapel that just finished. They are doing an open house so we had to go see what the plan was for the missionaries. That night we didn´t get home til almost 11pm! This week we have a few more meetings planned and a division with the assistants.

My first Sunday in the ward was ward conference. The ward is brand new (only has about 6 months) so it was the first conference. It´s an interesting ward but it seems like the members are a little more excited about missionary work.

Today we organized a zone activity because we are wanting to strengthen zone unity. We played soccer and volleyball then had a Churrasco, it was great! I´m way excited to work here and getting more into the leadership mode. It´s going to be an interesting transfer I think.

I love you all!

Elder MacLane Taggart

March 7, 2011 Welcome to the Big Leagues

Dear World,

I´d like to start this week with a notice/apology/a little funny thing that maybe you didn´t notice. Uncle Tom informed me that I accidentally misspelled ´funky´last week by forgetting the n. That was a close one but pretty funny. haha

Anyway, what a difference a week can make! I am actually glad that it´s been difficult though because I´ve really been learning a lot more about myself and things I need to change. Thanks for all the support emails, I guess my emails aren´t as transparent as I would hope. Pretty much everything changed this week and my situation is completely upside-down than it was this time last week.

It all started right here in this very lan-house. Pres. Jackson sent me an email that said, "It´ll be nice to see you this week." Only there was no reason for him to say that because we didn´t have any sort of conference or training that I was part of. So I called my district leader Elder Vidmar and asked and he said that the only thing on the mission calender was leadership training and that Pres. Jackson might have been talking about that. But I´m not (wasn´t) a leader so I figured it was just a mistake.

The next day Elder Vidmar called back and asked if I had called our zone leaders about my email and I said no. He said, "Well it looks like you´re going to leadership training this week." A few calls later, it was all worked out and it was certain that I was invited to the training so the next day we headed off to Ferreira.

I spent the next two days in leadership training with all the district leaders, zone leaders, the assistants, and Pres. Jackson talking about the mission´s difficulties and teaching principles. It was awesome! Sure I only knew a few people but it was still good. I was the youngest missionary there so it was pretty intimidating. The second day I was voted by our zone to represent in the practices so we practiced introducing ourselves and how to start teaching someone. I accidentally turned it into a baptismal invite and committed our 'investigators' to baptism in front of everyone. It was really funny.

The rest of the week was nerves and confusion. Transfers are this week and no one was sure what was going to happen. Elder Vidmar is going home soon so he was sure he was going to be released so it was most likely that I would not be transferred and become the new district leader because that´s usually where you start in mission leadership. But we just had to work til the transfers were announced yesterday.

We are really focusing on marriage for our older investigators because that is the only thing that is holding back a big part of our teaching group. We taught them all about the law of chastity and the purpose of the family, inviting them to pray about marking a marriage date. Hopefully that actually do it because the Lord isn´t going to tell them to keep sinning.

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting but all of the youth were gone because of Carnaval (Brasilian Mardi Gras). The church sends everyone camping during Carnaval so it was just the older people. Testimony meeting was all about how the camping trip is awesome and Mônica, Valdo´s daughter, decided not to go the last minute. I felt really bad.

Anyway the night rolled around and the secretaries called. To our surprise I was transferred! So then it was pretty much anything can happen. About 11:30 at night the assistants called and told me my designation... ZONE LEADER!!! Oh my freak! I´m so excited but way nervous. I only have 9 months on the mission and I still have a ton to learn but I know the Lord will qualify me. If I rely on him everything will work out the way it should. This is a chance for me to prove to myself what I´m capable of and to renew my excitement in the work. Pray for me! Please!

Oh and by the way my birthday is this week. Don´t forget, the 9th. I have an account at Zions Bank. Hahaha! Just kidding! Can you tell how nervously excited I am?

Anyway I love you all.

Elder MacLane Taggart

February 28, 2011 I've Got My New Shoes On So Suddenly Everything's Right

Hey everyone,

Well, unfortunately this week was even less eventful than last week. Same stuff really.

Elder Moreira did have a little cold attack so we had to stay in our house for practically three days this week. Stuff I did: cleaned, cooked, and made a paper model of the old testament tabernacle. haha! Yeah, real exciting I know.

I also have worn out some of my shoes so I had to fix that situation. One of my pairs I took to the Sapataria and had them put a new sole on. I figured it would be better than buying a pair of crappy brasilian shoes. The heel is so high now and it has me walking a bit funky but I just need to wear them in a bit. I also bought another pair of shoes to use for church, conferences, and temple trips. They are really fancy and look really expensive so when we were walking to church I had a little strut in my step. It always feels good to have nice things. (Let´s not forget that true happiness comes from the gospel, not from stuff, but let´s be real and say that stuff really helps.) haha!

Well you may not believe it but that´s all I´ve got to say today. Really. Love you all!

Elder MacLane Taggart

February 21, 2011 Not Much to Say

Hey Everyone,

Well, this week was pretty normal and there isn´t much to report so sorry if my email is a bit boring this week.

Things here in Parelheiros are getting a bit difficult. People aren´t really letting us into their houses much anymore so we´re not finding many new investigators which is a problem because some of our old investigators are falling through. We´re just working our hardest and keeping the faith. I´m definitely learning about patience and humility, which are my two week points so the Lord is actually blessing me with the opportunity to learn.

We went to the temple this week which was refreshing. I love going to the temple because there is no other place on earth that you can feel that close to heaven.

This weekend was the Novos Incios of the young women and we took Valdo´s family. It was an awesome presentation. Elder Moreira da Silva and I both cried so it was a good thing we sat in the back.

Did I not say there isn´t much to talk about this week? haha well let´s hope this week is more interesting.

Thanks all,

Elder MacLane Taggart
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February 14, 2011 Water and Coca Cola

Hey everyone!


Well this week was really interesting and pretty tough too so I have a few things to talk about.


Elder Moreira da Silva is awesome! He´s pretty quiet but we get along really well and we haven´t had any problems so far. I´m so grateful. I found out his whole name this week and you will not believe it. Are you ready? Richard Nikson Moreira da Silva! That´s right, he´s named after Richard Nixon! His dad heard it on the radio and didn´t know how to spell it as you can see from the use of 'ks' instead of 'x'. But seriously I love his name and he is a great companion.


Other big news! During district meeting last week Elder Vidmar said, "There has been a little rule change. We can drink Coca-Cola now." I almost fell out of my chair! I was plain giddy. It has been almost 8 months that I haven´t had a coke. I would have run to the market after the meeting but our money wasn´t deposited on time so we had to wait a few days to buy it. Man it was so good when I finally drank the sweet nectar of life which is Coca-Cola.


Speaking of liquid refreshment, we had a mini-draught in our neighborhood last week. We went three days without water so we didn't have anything to drink and we couldn´t take showers for a little bit. It was pretty gross. I also had to do some laundry while we didn´t have water so I used bleach on my shirts. One of them turned pink, then yellow, then white again. I guess some pretty interesting reactions were going on with my sweat, sun screen, and the bleach. When the water finally came back our electricty went out so I guess we have to count our blessings. Both are back now so all is well.


We had zone conference this week too. Pres. Jackson talked about our divine potential. It was pretty interesting. He said that the first step is to understand our relationship with God, then create the right environment, then serve. It was great. We also watched "The District 2". The District is a movie that the church produced which is pretty much 'The Real World' missionary-style. It is actually really entertaining but I think only missionaries would get some of the stuff that happens. Normal people would watch it and just think it´s weird.


Well, Valdo is still the man, but... we found out he and Janete aren´t really married so they can´t be baptized quite yet and with the new mission focus on families we can´t baptize their daughter Monica until we baptize them first. It stinks but there isn´t really anything we can do right now. They are going to the Cartorio this week to mark a date. They are still elects. They have started saying 'our church' so it´s pretty much a given that they will be baptized. I just hope that things work out so that they can be baptized before I get transferred which could be in three weeks.


Last night we had a really awesome Family Home Evening with a group of members and Valdo´s family. We watched "Together Forever" then played a bunch of games. Cake-time afterwards.


So yeah, that´s the week. It was pretty hard but had it´s funny stories and the everyday miracles that happen here in the mission field. I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine´s day, I´ll have to wait a few months until the day of boyfriends & girlfriends here in Brasil, not that I have anything to really wait for :P. Love you all!


Elder MacLane Taggart

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February 7, 2011 Valdo is the Man!

Hey Family, Friends, and Random People,

Well this week was the start of a new transfer and a new opportunity to work hard in the service of the Lord! Elder Alves de Oliveira was transferred (I´d say finally but we were only companions one transfer). My new companion is Elder Moreira da Silva! I´m noticing a pattern in my companion´s names: Pereira, Oliveira, Moreira. They all end in eira. He´s really cool and quiet but he is an awesome missionary. He is on the final months of the mission just like all my other comps. He´s pretty short and has a pretty young face, the sisters in our ward make fun of him a lot already. But it will be a good transfer so I´m way excited.

One of my closest friends on the mission just got transfered real close-by too, Elder Orton from way back in my first transfer. Back then he was desperate to be a leader and since then he´s been a district leader and is now my zone leader. It´ll be good to have someone close way up in the leadership, oh the politics of the mission, haha! Just kidding!

The mailing system is beginning to drive me a little crazy. The letters I sent home before Christmas are finally beginning to arrive back in the states so if you are still waiting I´m sorry but it´s coming. I received the news about dad´s new calling this week (a month late). Congrats dad! The young men of the ward will be really blessed to have you. You´re an amazing example and father and I´m sure you´ll do a lot of good. A notice to all: Please encourage young men to prepare to serve a mission. Our mission is beginning to downsize a lot because young men aren´t serving as much as before. It´s amazing to be a missionary and the prophet is calling each and every one of the young men in this church.

I need to talk a little about our amazing investigators Valdo and his family. I found them knocking doors one day about a month ago and they are all progressing really well. Valdo has been to church twice already and his family came this week. Janet his wife (I didn´t understand what her name was for a long time because it is pronounced way different in Portuguese) has already made us 2 cakes and a chicken torte, we are also going to have lunch with them today. Their daughter Monica, 14 and gorgeous, is making tons of friends in the ward already and wants to join the ward choir. This week we invited them to be baptized on the 26th and they all accepted! They are a little nervous that it´s a little fast but they said, "We´re going to be baptized either way." They have another daughter Jessica, 18, who is a little rebellious and has had bad experiences with church in the past but she´ll come along sooner or later.

On Sunday we had an interesting experience. We had lunch with a family and one of their daughters doesn´t believe in God. The mom took the opportunity to have the missionaries in house to attack her daughters beliefs that turned into a big debate about not only how God exists but why we need him to exist. We tried to explain to her that if we don´t live by faith we´ll never be satified because many things don´t have explanations other than God. But she wasn´t interested in understanding and Elder Moreira da Silva said that if you don´t want to believe you never will.

I also wanted to mention something really small but made a difference to me. This week we got home one night and it started to pour, I mean pour, rain. São Paulo has a cool tendency to ´mist´ when it rains but it was raining so hard that it was raining and misting at the same time and the wind was blowing a bit. I stood on our front porch and took it in for a while and felt the water and the wind. It felt so good and reminded me how we always have a chance to be clean and to start over and rededicate ourselves to doing good. I decided that this transfer I´m going to be different and I´m going to do my best.

Well, that´s all I got for this week. I hope you liked it. I love you all and hope all is well. Don´t forget to send me a shout-out every once in a while. Tchau!

Elder MacLane Taggart