February 24th, 2014

So this week was amazing!!! I had some very cool experiences!!! I really gained a testimony that the Lord is preparing our path every day. Butttttt first of all mom those pictures from Mexico are so cool! You must of had a.... BLAST (pun intended... because there was a whale... blasting off water.... I am funny....right?.....) I hope you had fun! Carson congratulations on your tryouts!! I knew that you would do well!!! Congrats man! And Dad congrats on finishing your training and good luck on your simulator thing!!! You will do great!

So yeah this week has been a great week of work! So this week like I said I really learned that the Lord is preparing our path because of three experiences that happpened this week. The first one happened on tuesday with a lady named Maria da Graça and her daughter Camila. We kncoked on their door and started to teach them about the restoration and the book of Mormon and that the knowledge of it being true or not could give them direction. And then Camila and Maria started to cry. We asked why and she said because the night before Camila said, "Im going to change my life and find direction and find a church." And then the next day we knocked on the door! It was such a great experience!

And then the day after we went and we were knocking on doors and a lady named Lena opened the door. Initially she didnt want to open the door, and started making an excuse and then, opened the door! I was confused because she was making an excuse and then stopped and opened the door for us, so we went in and started talking and teaching and then towards the end of the lesson she said that she didnt want to let us in, but then felt something tell her she should. And she said that the night before she had the thought come into her head, "I need to start going to a church" And then the day after we knocked on the door!!!

AND THEN the day after we were knocking on doors and started talking to a lady named Ení, who we started teachign and she said she was catholic but never goes to church. After the lesson she said that the night before she started to think and she knew she needed to start going to a church again but didnt know which one, And then the next day.... WE KNOCKED ON HER DOOR! 

Three days in a row these miracles happened and I feel like it was suh a blessing because I have had some doubts about if the Lord literally is preaparing my path as a missionary, and this week I gained that testimony that he is. It was great. 

For right now we dont have any batismal dates! We marked a few goals with some people, but we are helping them be more prepared. For baptsim the people that are closest are Valdo And Izamar who are loving every message, and told us this week that by a miracle they both stopped smoking and stopped drinking along time ago! But they still dont feel ready, so we are helping them prepare. But it will probably be after I leave because transfers are March 4th. But I am so happy to be teachign them too. 

Friday night we have dinner with Dara Elisangela and Maria, a family that is super awesome. They made us dinner to celebrate one year even though its this week! And then after on Saturday we did a service project for them and my hands have like a million blisters... but it was cool!

But yeah that was my week! It was super awesome and I love being a missonary! Happy one year to me this wekk! Crazy... it went by so fast... one more to go! I love you all!!!

February 17th, 2014

Hell oeverybody so this week was really great! We have been working really hard, and its been great! But first of all to respond to some of your emails: Jonathan and Natalie! I am so happy that you guys are having so much sucess!!! Jonathan good luck with the band, I am super happy for you! Living the dream. And Natalie too! Congrats! I am very happy for you both! Carson good luck with the baseball tryouts, you will do great! Just be confident! Remember that its a game, and that you are a very good player! Just have fun, relax and play the game! Dad good luck with the last week of training! And Mom, I love you! I loved the picture of Taco, I love when you guys send me stuff like that... I definately caught myself saying WUDDA DAYYY WUDDA DAYYYYYY... Jonathan understands that one... 

Anyways about my week! This week was super awesome and we were able to teach alot of people. I dont have time to write about every single person that we teach, and can only include the big things that happened, but we have been teaching alot! We have been continuing with a family of Valdo, Diego, and Izamara! This week we went to their house and we taught about the plan of salvation, and when I was teaching I have been really trying to bear a firm testimony, becasue now that I can speak well, I want to be able to use different words and expressions and stuff like that. And it was really awesome during this lesson! They really liked it, and they promised that they would go to church this week. I love that lesson because it shows us the purpose of why its important to do whats right. SO that was cool! Yesterday we were waiting for them at church and they showed up and I just got so happy when I saw them both coming!! I was so happy!! And they loved the church and so I am just so happy to keep teaching them! I am sad though because transfers are coming up and so I might be leaving soon. They are on March 4th. 

This week we have knocking on alot of doors, in the Guabiroba still, and it hasnt been workig as well. We ahve been finding people, but nobody solid that is super interested. The sad thing is that there are so many people that say, "I cant listen to you because my Pastor says we cant" and its so sad because we honestly dont and shouldnt force anybody to do anything. We just invite people to read the Book of Mormon and ask if its true. Whats sad is that many people dont want to experiment and try. 

This weeek some funny stuff happened. We were knocking on doors, and a lady opened up the door and I thought it was a man and said "Olá amigooooo" but it was a lady and I should have said, "Olá Senhora... " And so yeah... Haha didnt go so well... But I was definately not sure... Not my fault. Then on the same day I went to ring a doorbell, and it was broken and shocked me and I liked jumped back saying a bunch of words in English and everyone was looking at me like I was crazy! Haha so that was pretty funnny too. And a cockroach tried to attack me. I was in the bathroom gettin myself ready to use the bathroom and a cockroach came flying at me and I screamed, and ran out of the bathroom haha... Its one of those things that you gotta be there to understand how funny it was. But yeah!

And this is a picture of a family night that we did with a two members Dara and Elisangela and their mom that isnt a member! It was really cool, and I think her mom liked it! Anyways, thats about all for now! I love you so much have a great week!!!

 

February 10th, 2014

Olá todo mundo! This week was awesome!!!! Wow it was so awesome!!! Haha so I hope you are all doing well, and happy valentines day this week!! Connor I hope that you are feeling better! Thata some scary stuff I have been praying for you a lot! And Jonathan, its good to hear that your band is doing well! Anyways I got alot to say so yeah, here it goes.

We continued in our effort in the Guabiroba this week knocking on doors and trying to find new people. We found an awesome family thats names are Zalmira, Valdo, and Diego, and they are super awesome! We taught them two times this week and the first time they liked the lesson and the second time it actually appeared that they didnt want to continue meeting with us at firrst. But we just talked for a long time and we asked questions and listened to how they felt, and the spirit was so strong and I felt like the Spirit was telling me what to say and what to ask. And at the end they seemed alot more interested, and promisd they would visit the church next sunday! They are super awesome!

Also we are teaching a lady named Regina who during the first lesson didnt really seem super interested either. But then on friday, during the lesson she started to tear up and said that she wanted to follow. The lesson was about the Book of Mormon and how raelly it can be such a blessing for our life. She came to church yesterday and loved it so much! I really didnt expect her to have such a strong desire, but she realy wants to follow, so I am very excited to help her!

And last night we went to Kaiser and Aline, that are two people that are investigating the church for a really long time. They arent very realigious and have alot of questions. Normally we jsut talk to Kaiser, but yesterday Aline was there too and started talking about alot of questions that she has. That are actually really good questions... But I felt the spirit really strongly tell me, "talk about the book of mormon" And I spoke and bore my testimony, and she accepted to read it. I told her that inside wont have all the answers, but when you know its true, you will be able to use your faith to have the patience with the unanswered questions. I love being a missionary. It was suh a great experince. I love being a representative of Christ.

So yeah this week, I have just been loving being a missionary because the spirit has been so strong .I really feel like I am growing spiritually and I am so grateul for this mission! I miss you all so much, but Brasil needs mee!! Anyways I love you all!!!

These pictures are with a member of the ward, Irmã Ada! She is so awesome, but was going on vacation and so to say goodbye we made TACOOOOOSSSS!!! THEY WERE GREAT, I MADE THE TORTILLAS AND EVERYTHING:)

February 3rd, 2014

So hello everybody happy febuary and Happy Birthday Mom!!! I hope you have a great birthday, and I hope the brothers treat you well! I sent you a letter but sadly the mail pirates of Brasil went on strike again so I dont know when it will get there! But I did send something!!!:) Connor I hope you are feeling okay, that is pretty scary... I hope you are okay bud. But yeah, I miss you guys, but I pray for you all every night!

So this week was very good and it started with a change of my atitude. I have always had a pretty good atitude about serving, but recently its been very hard to keep myself up when there is so much stuff going on. But I decided to remember to love the people, even the ones that reject us, and it made a huge difference in this week. I just felt so much happier this week!

So as you know its been pretty hard to find new investigators so I came up with an idea that really helped! We have an area in our area called the Guabiroba and its got a bunch of apartment complexes that dont have gates, so anybody can go in and yeah! So we decided to go and knock on every door of these complexes until we found people, andddddddd WE FOUND PEOPLE! Haha the day that we started we were walking and knocked every door of one of the buildings, like 30 doors, and on the last door at the very top was a family that had been taught by the sisters a long time ago! They told us that they had seen us the same day and remembered the sisters, and then we knocked on their door later that day! It was very cool! And yesterday too we did the same thing, but this time it was the very first door, and a man Felipe opened the door, and let us in! He understood the lesson and was very humble, he said " I have already been baptized, but if I get an answer that I need to again, I will be baptized" It was very cool!

So yeah I think this week was a blessing for my better atitude! Um yesterday there was a very awesome storm that came out of nowhere and was very cool! I took pictures of it because it was so cool! And so yeah! Sorry if I dont have a ton of pictures to send. I dont really like carrying my camera with me in this area, but I do try when I have the chance! I love you all so much and hope you are doing well!!! Also, I reached my goal of 90 kilos this week, because I had gotten kinda chubby and had 94 two transfers ago....

But I love you all so much! Be safe! I am thinking about you all! And this is my spain shirt that I bought with my coins taht I have been saving up! I have a can that I use to put my change in, and it adds up pretty quick and I saw this shirt that is official for super cheapppp! So I bought it with my coins.... :)