45 Minute Unskippable Cutscene
Hey friends!
A 45 minute unskippable cutscene, that is what this past two weeks has felt like and it's what this email is about to be for you (except you can skip it, I'll try not to be offended).
First off, some house keeping, now that I am in the field, some things have changed. My P-days are now Mondays so that is when my emails, responses, and photos will come. I don’t have access to Messenger during the week so if you want to contact me the best way is through email so I can read it :).
So I hope you enjoyed your two week break from me and rested up because you are going to need it.
Being straight forward, I didn’t send an email last week because it sucked. It was a very rough week and I didn’t want to send a purely negative email. I wanted to be able to share some joy with you too, so this email consists of a two week recap, some good, some bad. Thanks for being here.
The End of District 33B-POR6
Wednesday (October 1st) my MTC district and I went our separate ways. Tuesday, we spent almost all-day writing notes to each other and getting in some last jokes. Our instructors were kind enough to come to the CTM, while they were off the clock, to have dinner with us and say goodbye. That was so much fun AND we got our instructors' love life lore. Crazy. Tuesday night was definitely hard when we all sat there realizing it was the last time we would all be together. With no hugs it was even harder. We had a district prayer then went our separate ways. I definitely teared up but don't tell anyone that. I cannot wait to see them all again.
36 Hours from Not Heaven
Wednesday morning, 7:15am, was departure time and so began the longest day of my life. We had about an hour drive to the mission office. After we got the welcome pictures out of the way, we were handed papers with our instructions for the day. Then it became an information dump. Highkey, should've just been an email but instead they interrogated and lectured us for hours. Not a fan.
After that we had to wait forever to have our trainers and areas assigned. I definitely let the tears run while I had some time to myself. We eventually got our areas and it was time for goodbyes. I said goodbye to the final people from 33B and was on my way to where I will spend the next couple months. The Continental Ward in Guarulhos. You'd think it would be smooth sailing from there. Nah. The Assistant to the President (AP) accidentally sent us to the sisters house. Luckily, we caught it before the Uber left so we didn't get stranded.
We got to our house and discovered that, since it had only been a two man apartment before, it had NOTHING to support four people (I was living out of my suitcase until yesterday). However, that night we got pizza and that helped me not crashout.
The Hardest Days of My Life
To rip the bandaid off, the start of my mission sucked, it's getting better but still hard. I have teared up countless times thinking of home and my friends (and when you don't speak the language and sit in silence, you spend a lot of time in your own thoughts). When I have talked with other missionaries they have said that after the first 6 months I'll be good at the language and that time will fly. I sit there like, “What do you mean six months? I have been here for two weeks and it already feels like a year.” I am not exaggerating when I say this has been the hardest thing I have ever done, HOWEVER, when I think of my story, I realize that this is where God wants me so obviously he has a plan. Right now, I get glimpses of his plan, it's hard for me to see the whole picture, but I know it's there.
Hitting the Streets
My first area is the Continental Ward in Guarulhos. I am living in an apartment about the size of my living room at home with the Zone Leaders (ZLs), and my comp who is the District Leader (DL). Both the ZLs have now helped me get through my rough days, where I have wanted to give up and go home, so living with them has been a blessing. My comp is Brazilian, but he is proficient in English, so if I need something I can ask.
In terms of my area, my comp, the ZLs, and I are in the process of splitting an area, doing a combination of white-washing and opening an area. It's been crazy especially because, for the first week, the office had not drawn our area boundaries so we were just guessing.
After a wacky first week in the field, me and my comp finally got to go proselyte for the first time. We have one pretty solid, but stubborn, investigator and PUT HER ON DATE… for mid-December. We are praying it doesn't fall through and she will want to move it up after some more lessons (thankful for her though because she gives us SO MUCH food and forces me to speak Portuguese). Besides her we have no current friends and our referrals have run dry. In the past two weeks we have scheduled at least 15 lessons and every single one, but two, fell through and we had only 7ish successful contacts… our area is pretty dead… but don't worry we are going to try to revive it with the help of the ward. We just got to get the members to trust us first… The past few days have been very long with not much to do to say the least. It's been hard to find a place to start, especially being the greenie that doesn't speak the language, I can't take the lead on much. It'll get there though.
The slowness of the work aside, I love how welcoming everyone is. Even if they aren’t interested they are just happy to meet you and talk and even help you. Everyone's seemingly endless smiles definitely keep me going.
A Job Offer from Delta
No, I'm not joking. I got a job offer from the (Multi) Regional Performance Manager for Delta. In our ward, we have an American that works for Delta. His name is Ika and he is actually the coolest dude ever. Simply put, he tracks all the logistics and metrics for Delta AND its partners’ flights in Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Canada. Such a sick job. He invited us over for breakfast Saturday morning because he wants to help out the missionaries as much as he can, even though he works constantly. That was the biggest breakfast I think I have ever had, but it was so so good.
He is helping us plan a devotional for Sunday and I mentioned the fact that I do video and now he wants me to make a welcome video and he will let me use his iPad to edit. Maybe I'll actually keep my content skills fresh on the mission! He proceeded to say that if I wanted to work for Delta's Advertising Team to hit him up after the mission. I chuckled and looked at him like he was crazy and he was dead serious… so I got that going for me which is wild.
On Monday, Ika had us and the sisters over for dinner and he bought so much food. It was insane. We are talking Outback burgers, fries, chicken, enough ice cream for 20 people, brownies, everything. Because of him, I now have a life goal to spoil the missionaries.
Real talk though, we sat and talked with him for hours (in English!). It was so nice to be able to just yap with someone and I also learned so much from him. The conversation I got to have with him opened my eyes to why I am here and how I can use my talents to change the work. He helped me remember that God gives talents for a reason and this is just one of my reasons. He was, without a doubt, an answer to my prayers. He asked us about 40 times if we needed him to buy us anything or do anything for us and then he said to reach out if we do, even if he's traveling, and he will uber us things. He is actually the best person in the world and I aspire to be as generous as him. He is being relocated to Atlanta next month which makes me kind of sad, but he said he will visit and I am thankful for him while I have him.
Vocab
Area - the ward, city, or region, that a missionary is serving in
District - made up of a couple of areas near each other
Zone - made up of a couple districts near each other
White-washing - when both the missionaries in an area are replaced in one transfer
Transfer - the period of 6 weeks you spend in the area you are assigned
Greenie - new missionary
Investigator (sometimes referred to as friend) - someone currently learning about the gospel and the Church
Contact - talking to an investigator or potential investigator
Lesson - teaching someone about the gospel and church
Date - day someone will get baptized
General Conference - A semi-annual conference (first weekend in April and October) where leaders of the Church teach and speak about various topics
Random
The food here is pretty much identical to what I eat at home. Chicken, rice, stroganoff, and sweet treats. Blessing.
Our one investigator made us carrot cake (I think she forgot the carrots) and it was so good, I ate so much. She also showed us a cake she made with no sugar, flour, butter, or anything (I don’t know how that works but).
Brazil takes their malls SERIOUSLY. On P-day we went to a massive (like massive, 7 floors each one at least three football fields) mall across the street from us and it was, by far, the nicest building I’ve seen in Brazil.
The Elders I am living with bought me my first jersey as a welcome gift. I am a Corinthians fan now.
We were eating at a members house and the four of us ate all the food so quick that the member casually called up an uber to bring another whole freaking chicken for us to eat (#grateful).
If you haven’t noticed yet, they uber EVERYTHING
6 days in I had my first zone conference and, like the typical greenie, I understood NADA. I was exhausted by the end of the day from trying to translate everything in my head. Luckily, the day went quickly and I got to play some piano (I don't play piano so do with that what you will).
I burnt my finger on a piece of bread…
I understood enough Portuguese to understand the Irmã that was feeding us that I didn't need to eat the chicken feet if I didn't want to and that she only made it because her mom wanted it (#grateful x2). And yes. There was chicken feet.
Quotes
“You start talking then you get a 45 minute unskippable cutscene” -Elder Bingham 10/07/2025
“You look like… you know… you have a touch of… your colonizers [Spaniards] in you” -Ika 10/13/2025
“Translate, Mexican” -Ika 10/13/2025
God's Hand
My comp blindsided me on my third ever contact and asked me to share something I liked about the scriptures and I opened my mouth and all the sudden was speaking Portuguese.
Me and my comp haven’t had too much time to bond, since we've had 2.5 divisions in the first week, and we were running early to an appointment so we bought cookies and sat down on a hill and talked. It was a much needed tender mercy as one of the things I have struggled most this week is feeling alone. We ended up being late to our final contact of the night which you might think is a bad thing BUT, had we been early, or even on time, she wouldn't have been home and we would have never gotten in touch with her. Instead we got to give her a lesson and she has been reading the Book of Mormon! God works in mysterious ways.
During the CTM, whenever we were asked to share a scripture or choose our favorite, I always went to the same one (1 Nephi 7:11-12). So when I was asked to share a message I shared that one since it was all I knew in Portuguese and on Sunday the Sister I taught bore her testimony about how the missionaries always know exactly what she needs to hear (coincidences don't exist).
My prayers being answered when I met Ika
Spiritual Thoughts
When you feel like you have no faith, start with a hope.
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf talked about this in General Conference last Saturday (link here) and it's what I am trying to live by this right now. It had been hard for me to have faith that my mission was going to get better so I started with a hope. With this shift of mindset, it is still hard but I am starting to see things from a more positive perspective.
If you are struggling with having faith in Christ, start with a hope in Christ. If you are struggling with faith that your situation will get better, start with a hope.
There is nothing wrong with a simple testimony, in fact those are some of the most powerful (shout out Zuster Howe for this).
If you ever feel like you don't have this big grand testimony when it feels like everyone else does (I feel like this right now), please remember this: Testimonies are confirmed by the Spirit, not by words.
There is a Simplicity in Christ (General Conference talk by Elder Cziesla).
Challenge
This week I challenge you to strive to be the kindest person in the room. You never know who needs an extra smile, an extra hug or to feel seen. Be the one that sees them.
I survived this last two weeks and you survived this week's essay. If you read this all know I love you with all my heart and if you didn’t read the whole thing just know I love you anyways. Please send me emails, somedays get lonely. If you have any advice I am all ears. I promise I read emails and I am working on responding.
Muito amor,
Elder Urbano
