SCRATCH THE EMAIL WE HAVE A NEW MISSION
Hey friends! I thought P-day would never come, goodness it was a long week, but yeah you freaking read the subject right. But not just one new mission, 55 NEW MISSIONS.
On a casual Friday morning, of the slowest week I've had yet, the Church decided to drop 55 new missions. Insane. Hold on, it gets crazier. The area I am currently in WILL BE one of the THREE NEW Brazil missions. Missão Guarulhos. There is now a possibility that I get reassigned to a different mission and open A WHOLE FREAKING MISSION. There are a ton of “What Ifs” right now so I am not trying to get my hopes and dreams up… but… the hopes and dreams are definitely there.
You're probably shocked like I am and I wish I could talk more about it because it's crazy… but I know nothing and it's killing me. So for now, on to our regular scheduled programming.
Reunited with (most of) 33B
One of the best blessing this week was Treinamento Novinhos… not for the training (this stuff could've been an email, again) but for the people. I got to see most of my CTM district and goodness gracious that was much needed (Miss my Porto Alegre and Santa Maria peeps). The second I saw Elder Johanson and Sister Tew (shout out to both) walk around that corner I took the biggest breath of relief. After that, we just let thoughts fly. For the first time in three weeks we could (kinda) speak freely. The time to say goodbye came so quickly which sucked because I still have so much to say and we have NO clue when we will see each other again AND now I don’t even know if we will be in the same mission next year. Glad we got to see each other though (Love y'all, 33B)
The Utah Desert (Written Friday)
Guys. Our area is a DESERT (I don't have the slightest idea how it is going to be a whole new mission). Quick lesson about how we do things for the non-missionaries. We have an app (Preach My Gospel) in which we receive referrals of people that want to be/ could be introduced to the gospel. These referrals come from Church sponsored ads, members of the Church, other missionaries, etc. There are three dot (in Portuguese, bolinha) colors for non-members (the dot/ bolhina is on a map, showing us where they live): gray is not teaching, yellow is referral, and green is progressing/ teaching.
This week I made so many people gray, our yellows are down to 15… 12 of which we have yet to be able to contact… and 3 that we are “teaching” (I put that in quotes because teaching is a generous word. More like we show up, they talk about their life problems and send us on our way). It has been so slow. We attempt to contact every single dot every single day and we are not making any progress. My comp finally said that we might have to attempt street contacting which is not common nor effective in my mission. Our ZLs, who we split the area with, are having the same problem so on Wednesday night we had to buy a comfort pizza so we didn't go into sadness.
In all seriousness, it's slow but God's elect are out there… we just need to figure out how to find them. We would appreciate prayers that we will be guided to the people that will hear our message. Until we find them we just keep on pushing.
The Miracle (Written Sunday)
After quite a slow and discouraging week and when it continued to be slow even after we did all we could, I got down on my knees and prayed. I prayed that we would be able to make some progress before the week ended. I went about my Saturday with a hope that we would find someone. That hope was pretty much gone when it hit 5pm. My comp and I were exhausted, my Portuguese was gone, and my legs were tired. We sat at a park to make some phone calls and that was all we had left.
There was a spot that I had been wanting to take some pictures of, so, as a mental break, we got up and walked to it. Not even 20 steps in my comp goes “É UM MILAGRE, MANO” (translates to “It's a miracle, bro”). We had our first person confirmed for church on Sunday. The first person in my mission. That gave us just enough to pick up our feet. We had two options; walk to the farthest part of our area OR go back to the chapel and hang out until our lesson. We turned to go to the chapel and I paused, looked at my watch, and saw we had two hours. We looked at each other, looked at the hill we would have to go down to get to the far part of our area (which means we'd have to go back up), and said “mind as well.” Let me spoil this for you. That was the greatest decision we've made in these four weeks.
We knocked on the door of a house we had knocked twice before. This time they were there. A family of 3. Mom, dad, and the cutest little boy. When we entered their home, tears filled the mom's eyes and the little boy was full of joy. We talked with them, talked through their struggles, invited them to church, promised them that they would find peace in Christ if they looked, and prayed with them. The second my comp said “Nosso Querido Pai Celestial” (“Our Dear Heavenly Father”), there was an undeniable, indescribable, presence of the Spirit in their house.
Sunday came and we couldn't get in touch with them (we learned that their phone number doesn't actually have a phone plan). With that knowledge my ZL (Bingham) and my comp decided to make the 45 minute hike to their house to personally accompany them to Church while me and my other ZL (Johnson) went to prep the chapel for a baptism. It hit 10 minutes past 9am, when Church started, and I started to get nervous they wouldn't show. 5 minutes later I see a car pull up and a little boy's smile in the window. I practically ran to the parking lot to welcome them with immeasurable joy in my heart.
This family, that the missionaries before us lost contact with, made it to Church during one of the hardest times of their life. It truly was a miracle. I ask that as I continue to pray for this family that you will too. We love them with all our heart and they could use prayers.
Random
The Church will have 506 missions on July 1, 2026.
I got a (little) Christmas tree and lights from my mom
I bought a guitar (saving grace)
My comp and I came across a little playground with one of the things that spins and my comp didn't know what it was. I told him to sit on it with me and as soon as he sat I hopped off and spun it as fast as I could. It was funny.
Anytime there is a hill that me or my comp doesn't want to go up, I run it. My comp told me that my “esposa será muito bonita” because of that.
I think our chapel is haunted, every time the wind blows the drop ceiling opens. It's wacky.
Passed a house that literally just makes cursed objects.
Our ward had a churrasco (BBQ on steroids) and I had way too much food.
Attempted a street contact and the guy said “maybe after I smoke this weed.”
One bug bites goes away and four more appear
Brazilian goodbyes are longer than midwest and BYU goodbyes COMBINED… didn't think that was possible
As we walk I teach my comp some photography basics
Ika IS BACK and bought us ice cream
My brother BLEACHED HIS HAIR
Vocab
Street Contacting - finding people interested in learning more about the gospel on the street and other public places
God's Elect - Those ready to hearken to the Gospel, hear the message of the gospel.
Exchange (Divisão) - spending the day with a different companion (usually with a leader) for more training and to learn from each other
Quotes
“Mano, I actually fetching hate playing chess. This is gay mano” [Elder Bingham, 10/22/2025]
“I need to put on my glasses to hear better.” [Sister Leal, 10/26/2025]
God's Hand
During an exchange (divisão) we ran into a guy that my ZL has been unable to get in contact with.
My studies being led to exactly what I needed.
Finding a family we haven’t been able to contact and getting them to church.
Energy to keep going even with no success.
4 people at church!
Spiritual Thoughts
“Where there is design, there is a designer” -Elder Alan T. Phillips (God Knows and Loves You, October 2023)
When you pray with a sincere intent, real purpose, and show God you are willing to work for it, following the promptings you are given, he will perform miracles right in front of your eyes.
Being on a mission it's really easy to get caught up on the worldly things that I miss (Chipotle lol) however, I have realized that I still have the most important thing. The Gospel. The gospel doesn't change no matter where you go in the world. The worldly things easily distract us from the true gospel and drawing closer to Christ and serving him. I invite you to make sure you prioritize living the commandments and principles that are pleasing to God and not necessarily pleasing to the world. (1 Nephi 6:5)
Challenge
Write down at least one way you saw God's hand in your life everyday for a week. If you have any cool experiences you want to share then I want to hear about it!
That's all for now, thanks for reading along! I want to hear your life updates! Email me!
Muito amor,
Elder Urbano
