When in Brazil, do as the Romans...?

The Romans were conquerors.  They conquered and educated and as a result influenced many languages creating the “Romance” languages.  

Taking High School Spanish, I didn’t think that this would have much of an influence on me.  Little did I know that I would be called to serve a mission in Brazil speaking Portuguese and the Roman influence would be much more prevalent in my life.  

It is amazing to see how one culture can spread across oceans and influence countries that were not originally conquered by them.  I now spend half of my time speaking a "Romance" language.  Who would have thought?

Profile for Persuasion: The LDS Missionary

Main characteristics and values: 

Me (right) as a missionary in Germany on my last day.

Many if not all of the people in this class are familiar with the missionary of the church. Several of us have gone on missions ourselves. those who have done so note that there are keen differences in the everyday culture of missionary life in comparison to ours. When someone mentions the word missionary, we all automatically think of a pair of young men in suits, white shirts and ties. They are all very focused on the spiritual nature of things. Their main desire during their two years of service is to serve people that they meet from all walks of life and invite them to make changes so that they can find salvation through Jesus Christ. Missionaries always seek for the good things of life and avoid worldly matters in order to maintain focus and a strong connection with God. Many missionaries serve in foreign countries and must deal with the stress of learning a new language and culture during this time.


Likely/unlikely to persuade:

Because missionaries try to be so serving to others, they would react very positively if they were offered opportunities to help people. They would also be attracted to things that are related to the LDS church. It would be ineffective to convince Missionaries to try to have them do things that would distract from their mission.

Test case- attending a play:

A Missionary would normally avoid attending a play as that would be something typically considered as something that does not pertain to the mission. However, if it contained elements of gospel doctrine, or it was used as a way to help people or teach them about the gospel. I actually did a fireside like that on my own mission. And it was effective!