Nov 11, 2010

Last saturday, we had another baptism. It was the brother in law of our bishop, or something like that. It was really awesome. I felt the spirit so strongly when he was baptised. We accidently overfilled the font, so in the afternoon we had to clear all the water out of the room. haha then when he was baptised alot of water came out of the font and splashed people. it was really funny, but a really enjoyable meeting. He is like 60ish years old and his wife has been wanting him to be baptised for so long, and i was here when he decided to be baptised. Really awesome!!

We have two more people ready to be baptised but all of the leaders are going to be out of town saturday, so we have to wait till next saturday to baptise them. Our goal of baptisms for the month of november is 4. We had one last week, will have these next two, and will find atleast one more before the end of the month. So i think we will meet our goal. Will be the first time on my mission baptising as many people as my goal is. So I´ll be really happy.

The ward is good, they arent super helpful, but atleast we can have lessons with members pretty easily. We havent gotten alot of references, but im working on getting more. So for now its a bit more tracking. We have appointments jsut about all through out the city, so we walk alot. Im working on focusing more in fewer areas.

The other day we were at a recent converts house, waiting to teach his mom, sister and friend, and Elder Salla and Neia (our recent convert) got into a little water fight. Then she challenged him to eating a pepper, and who ever ate it faster got a bucket of water splashed on them. -this day was really really hot- Elder Salla ended up winning and dumped the water on Neia. We did the lesson, then afterwards, Salla told me that he swallowed the pepper whole and faked chewing it. haha Neia ate it entirely and was crying too. haha Elder Salla is a trickster.

Well, tommorow we have Zone Conference, so soon we will be going to conquista. I´ll be sleeping in the same house as Elder Morris (from my group). He is working in another satelite city of Conquista. It will be the second time in 9 monthish, being in a meeting with him. So it will be tight catching up.

Ill try to send a post card this next week.

Tell shelly im sorry that they didnt beat Green Valley, but good luck with soccer. she better make varsity!!!! haha

I miss thanksgiving. send me a pumpkin pie and some of your rolls, okay? Its not celebrated here in Brasil, unfortunately. :[

Nov 3, 2010

So how's the new area? What's it like to be back where it all began?.....and
with a command of the language?
The new area is great so far.  The members are pretty cool, the work is rolling, we even have baptisms lined up.  Its a city 2 hours from conquista and its decently sized, we are the only missionaries in this city.  right now most of our appointments are far away from eachother so i got to start focusing our work in one area before being able to work really hard so thats my main goal here.

Have you been able to meet up with "old" friends and ward members?
yea, i did a division with the elders in Ala Brasil and was able to visit a few members there. it was really cool being able to talk to them and them conversing with me with not much problem. haha it was so tight!

I am still unclear what you mean when you say that (as District Leader) ­
you are still over the Zone  Leaders in your area? I thought the Zone
Leaders were over everyone?
In this Zone there are two Districts, my district (with the ZLs and another pair) and another district (with 3 pairs).  i get the numbers from the ZLs and the other pair then pass the numbers of our district to the ZLs.  i also do the interviews for them when needed.  Understand better?

Is the weather getting to you yet?..or have you gotten used to the heat and
humidity?  Do you miss the ocean?
The heat is more of a Dry heat, which i prefer.  its still kinda hot but not too bad.  I dont miss the beach too much, since i couldnt ever really go to the beach it didnt really matter.  i do miss seeing it though. haha

This was a short written email. Kevin basically just answered my questions! In his recording, Kevin interviewed his current companion and it was thrilling to hear him converse in fluent portuguese! I would have loved to have been a bug on the wall when Kevin met up with some of the members who knew him before he was able to speak the language. What a blessing for both Kevin and the members to really see- first-hand -the fruits of the Spirit! Kevin also mentioned that he would love to receive some candy in his holiday packages! In case any of you are interested - Christmas packages should be sent out before Thanksgiving with the hopes of him receiving them before Christmas. Send them to the Mission Home. They may sit there for a little while - until a District or Zone meeting - but he will eventually receive them.

October 30, 2010

So what¹s the news on the transfer?   Area?  Companion? Responsibilities?
DifferencesŠ..similiaritiesŠ.?

I got transfered to a small city called Itapatinga.  its part of the Victoria da Conquista zone, its my 3rd area in this zone, Bairro Brasil and Marada Real being the first two.  So im really glad to be back in this awesome zone.  My companion is Elder Salla, he is from Sao Paulo and has 3-4 ish months in the mission.  Hes new, but really awesome.  Im still DL.  Im am over the ZLs and Marada Real.  Tommorow im doing a split with the DL from Barrio Brasil since he will do a baptismal interview that we are having this week.  Yay, baptisms without doig anything for it, haha yay.  And it will be cool seeing my old area again.


If you are able to do an audio recordingŠ.now or in the futureŠ.I still
would like to hear you speak some conversational Portuguese.  Interview your
companion and translate your conversation.
 
i mad one with my last companion, next week i will make one with my new companion.

 
Yea, so i have been transfered as you can tell now.  Yesterday, we had a huge transfer meeting with the salvador mission, because Elder Oaks was coming to do a mission tour in Bahia.  It was such a powerful meeting.  I learned so much, and i really could feel his spirit.  He truely is a special witness of the Lord.  I will try to look at my notes and add some things i learned in next weeks email, okay? haha
 
well, not much else is new, since the transferes and such.  but next week will have new experiances.  work on that family, maybe your ment to be their guide to the truth.  send the missionaries over there!!!