September 2011

Greetings from Novo Hamburgo!
I´m keeping busy. There´s always so many people to visit. some days I wish there were two extra days in the week. One more to work and another to rest because one p-day just isn´t enough.

And our ward is good. It´s not big, but I haven´t been asked to do more than give a talk. They´re all so good. It´s amazing what happens when the members trust us missionaries. We had a neat experience yesterday where we were working in a neighborhood and almost all of our appointments fell through. so I turned to Sister and asked where she wanted to go, who to visit, and almost immediately she said Magali. After she mentioned this member of the ward I felt super good, confirmation that that was where we needed to go. So we went and visited her, everything normal. Then we asked if she knew anyone who we should teach, and she told that she had the thought that very morning to tell us about her neighbor. The spirit for sure guided us there to talk with her about her neighbor. We´re excited to see what the fruits of this referral are.

We´re just working working working. We don´t have a ton of investigators, but the ones we do have are all super special. It´s so neat to see how the Lord places people in your path so you can help them.

Then Saturday we had a baptism!! Marcelo, the husband of a member got baptized and it was amazing. He´s such a good man, and he was so prepared for the gospel. Marcia, his wife shared with us the other day how a few months ago, she and her brother who´s a member would be talking about the church and Marcelo would try to say something negative or wrong about the church, and finally, Marcia told him that if he wanted to say something to first read the Book of Mormon. and now he´s a member. It´s amazing the power of the Book of Mormon. Sunday morning when he was confirmed I thought about how little we actually did. We were there to teach him what he needed to know, but really he, and the spirit did all of the work. We were just there as spectators. But regardless we´re a part of the family. And the baptism really was super special. There was a spirit so sweet in that meeting. He´s going to do great things.

There´s a million more people I could write and talk about, but I´m tired so I won´t. But life is fantastic, we´re just working hard. That and I just love Sister Farias to peices. We´ve decided to grow our hair out super long so that we can sell it and have enough money to visit Portugal together after our missions. haha. We´ll see how our master plan works out.
But life is good, I´m super happy.

We found a super special family this week that we´re teaching. They´ve truly been waiting for the gospel. Everything just continues. There´s lots of work to do, lots of fun to be had. And spring is arriving with plenty of sunshine. They even have Azaleas here. I took a picture and everything.

I´m ridiculously happy to be staying here in Novo Hamburgo with Sister Farias. We´re ready to keep up this pace and get a lot done this transfer. Então, tudo jóia :)
Enjoy some of the pictures we took at the Santuária das Mães.

August 2011

Oi gente!

Saturday we worked in a neighborhood kind of far again, but it was so worth the bus fare. We´re teaching the husband of a member there and he´s progressing so well. When we began teacing Marcelo his wife warned us that he´s a slow mover, that he doesn´t like to feel pressured. So we´ve been taking it easy. But in the week since we last taught him he´s read about 19 chapters in the Book of Mormon and he prays before and after every time he reads. He doesn´t like to be pressured but he has such a sincere desire to learn for himself if what we teach is true. He´s coming along so well.

Then we had another neat experience with another family in this neighborhood. Last week when we met them we just left a super short message and promised to return. So we returned and when we were talking with them they expressed some of their concerns with some religions, and their experience with God and how they feel in relation to him, etc. Then they talked about how when we showed up at their house the other week they felt a peace when we were there with them. It was incredible to hear how they recognized the spirit. It was one of those special, holy cow I´m a missionary, kind of moments. They´re a super special family too.

Basically all of my good news comes from this one neighborhood that we have to take a bus to get to. A good chunk of our area here is tall apartment buildings and larger houses belonging to wealthier people. But there in Roselândia the neighborhood is a little more humble. But I think the difference is working with a member there. With Marcia working with us, we have so many of her friends, family, and neighbors to teach. And so many of them are just ready for the gospel. It´s way exciting.
Anyway, but life is just good.

We´re just continuing to work. But today is our last real p-day of the transfer so Sis.Braga and I decided to do something more exciting. So this morning we went to Lomba Grande. It´s a little town kind of far from the center where we live, but it´s still in our area. So we caught the bus and went there for the first time for either of us. We heard there were touristy things to do so we went. Turns out there´s almost nothing there. Maybe in the summer there´s more to do, but all we found was a tunnel of trees over some road. And we had to walk pretty far in order to find it too. We walked forever and finally found it, then walked for forever again just to find a bus stop to take us back to Novo Hamburgo. It´s kind of annoying to be more tired on our day off than on our usual work day. But it worked out. It really was pretty out there. Very rural with lots of pretty views. It´s interesting to think what spring and summer are like here. It´s winter now and all of the trees are still green, but everyone says spring and summer are much nicer. It´s hard to imagine things being more green.

I wish I had something else of note to share, but our week was pretty mundane. Now we´re just getting antsy for transfers next week. We´re so curious to know what´ll happen. If we both stay, if one of us leaves... etc. But I´ll let you know if anything changes next week.

So we´ve started a new transfer off with a bang. Sister Braga was transferred and Sister Farias has joined me here in Novo Hamburgo and I just love her to death. She´s from Forteleza, way up in the northeast, and has the longest most beautiful hair I´ve ever seen. Lots of times when someone has really long hair it looks unkempt, but hers is so shiny and pretty. But most importantly she´s a hard worker and a phenomenal missionary. I like her lots, we´re working really well together.
And in other news, we´re preparing Marcelo for baptism! So Sister Braga and I began teaching him, and right off the bat he was so sincere and diligent. Then last week we were talking with Marcia, his wife, and out of the blue she tells us that Marcelo wants to get baptized. But we didn´t invite him right away, for some reason we wanted to wait until the next lesson. But then this Saturday we went to teach him again, and Sister Farias in a very simple direct manner invited Marcelo to be baptized and he accepted. The spirit was super strong and we´re all super happy for him. He knows what´s right. He´s a very sincere person. When he dedicates himself to something, he sticks with it.

Anyway, so I´m doing really good. Last week I reached the halfway point of my mission and it´s super strange. Sometimes it feels like I´ve been out for more time, other times it feels like I just left. The mission is almost like the twilight zone in the way time passes. But it´s good.

So the weather here has been kind of insane. Since I got here in Novo Hamburgo at the begining of July it´s been off and on hot and cold, but never really getting super cold like it was in Venâncio. But this week it´s started to get cold cold again. I think we might have a few more weeks of winter, but all of the members say that in September it starts to get warmer. I am tired of winter, but I´m a little scared of a Brazilian summer. From what I´ve heard it gets super hot, and it´s really humid here. But I already have sunblock, so hopefully all I´ll get are freckles. I´ll make sure to be careful though. But I have another few weeks before I have to worry about it.