04-28-10 Email

Hey everyone,
So this week has been pretty good. I can’t say it was super excellent because we lost 2 days of work. On Friday my companion went to Curitiba to renew his visa and we had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning because he had to be at the bus station by 4:30. He didn’t get back until 7 and we only had time to do one visit. It was a good visit. It was with a less active. Elder Miller actually baptized them but some people said some things that the mom didn’t like and got offended and left the church. It’s actually really sad that someone can really affect your life so much that they just destroy your happiness. But it’s okay we are hoping that they go back. Their daughter already said that she will go back and we are having a Family Home evening there today. And then on Saturday we went to Santa Paula about an hr away and we had to do interviews. We left our area at 2 and didn’t get home until late. Elder did 5 interviews and it turned out that no one got baptized L they didn’t show up. This week we started out with 2 Family Home evenings. Monday was in the house of another inactive. I guess this guy used to be on the bishopric and everything but then he started going to like a bike club thing and I think people probably said something. His wife started going inactive and then he was just going to go inactive for a little bit to show her a lesson but then he went totally inactive. It was actually really good and fun. I hope that they felt the spirit and will decide to come back soon. Tuesday we found 5 great families. It was actually a miracle because we were kind of down because all of our investigators fell through and didn’t want anything more. But Tuesday was excellent it gave us the excitement again. And then we did another FHE in the 2nd counselor’s house with Alexandre and Danielle and a less active Hilda. The only thing that lacks for them (alex and dani) is for them to get married. But the bad thing is, they will move in about a month. So we got to work fast lol Today we played soccer downtown and went to pick up some stuff from the house in Jardim Europa because I don’t think we are going to go back there. There is a member that works downtown and he was telling us that a lot of people are moving from there and the ward is really weakening. It’s sad, and I hope that they get missionaries here quickly. This week we are hoping to have about 15 in the church again. We have met some really cool people and our members are awesome. We have divisions marked for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Let’s just hope that they all work out.

Well for me everything is going really well, and I hope all is great for you all in the US. Thanks for everything. I will try to get some things in the mail this next week but it just has been crazy.

Our investigators and so more info:
Dirceu- We found him through a member actually that left with us and he is only 14 yrs old. But Dirceu is about 45 years old and he is awesome. He smokes and drinks coffee but we have already helped him drop to about 3 each day. Felipe has been on his feet about going to church so Im sure he will go this week.

Celsio/Aperacida- We found Celsio on a contact in the street and we just walked and talked to his house. We taught him Friday and when we went back there Tuesday he wasn’t there but his wife was and so we taught her. She is actually looking for the truth here on the earth and actually wants to be baptized but just in the right place. She then gave us 2 references of her relatives. She was awesome. She smokes as well and she wants to stop but she cant so we will help her.

Daniele/Alexandre- Elder Miller taught them about a year ago and they are so amazing. Its like they are already prepared to make this covenant. They only need to get married which is actually really easy lol. They just had a baby like 3 months ago and they are about to move. So its actually going to be a great new life for them.

Cleusa/ Mayara – We found them when we actually looking for another family lol it was actually great because 2 years ago Cleusa lost her son and she still hasn’t gotten over it. She has actually been searching for answers and no one has been able to answer them. When we got there she let us in and the spirit was so strong it was amazing. When we left we told we will come back to teach her where her son went and she just sat there and looked at us knowing that what we were teach is the truth. They are awesome. Mayara is her granddaughter and she has a baby and finally she gave her baby to her brother who wasn’t listening and said I'm trying to learn, take him for a little while. How awesome!!

We will have an activity the 22nd and its going to be cranium lol we are re writing it to be in Portuguese and to be about the church like Noah he was a great builder and so people will have to use their designing abilities to help their team. Using clay, drawing and each team will have some curses like blindness, mute, take away a player. Its going to be awesome. Im so excited, and I hope we have a whole bunch of people there! Well things here are great I hope you all are having a great time as well. Love you tons.
Have a great week!

04-14-10 email

So here its been an awesome week. We have been workin our butts off. My companion always has to do interviews and so we lose all of our Saturdays because of them. But still we have found A LOT of people. I mean we have opened the area so we didn't have much to work with, so we have been just basically knocking on doors and a lot of people have been letting us in. It's nice. In campus, there is a lot of members inactive and so we have some work to do with that. This past Sunday we started markin divisions with the members and we have had a lot of success with them. Sunday we taught 4 in 2 hrs and last night we taught another 3. Its great to have the members working with us so that we can do more work and also that we can give the investigators a friend to work with.

Today we had this humongous barbeque with the other elders and it was great way to end this crazy transfer lol. Hamburgers, steak, the ham pickle thing, apple crisp, baked beans, chili on baked potatoes. It was awesome. Anyone who's been to Brazil will know that they don't have these things. LOL it was a bunch of guessing lol. Well hope all is well with everyone at home. Not much else goin on here. Im sure I will have some more wonderful news for everyone next week.

Love you all,

Justin