Week 75

For P-day we played basketball with some investigators:

During the week we had a leadership meeting in Porto Alegre so we lost almost two days to work in our own area. The meeting was really good, President Campos gave a really good training and we implemented 2 new changes in the mission: with the divisions between missionaries and their leaders, and transfers. We felt the Spirit very strong and we left with more determination to work harder and effectively. I was able to see many Elders I hadn't seen in ages.

Élder Ribeiro

Élder Lopes (and Élder Burgos in the background)

Canela's Cathedral

It was very rainy and wet during the week as well, so we often woke up to fog and mist. One night we saw this cool effect on the cathedral:

On Thursday we had our second integration night. Because it was raining there were a few less people than last time but we still had a great turnout as far as our investigators goes. Everyone brought their favorite Torta de Bolacha and then our recent converts judged them to nominate a winner in taste and design. We tried something new and for our Torta de Bolacha we made it with a peanut butter flavor and put reese's on top. It was something no one had ever seen before!

While they were judging the Tortas de Bolacha we taught everyone a game where there are two equal groups, each one sitting in a line facing each other. Everyone in their respective lines holds hands and there is one person at the beginning of the line holding the hands of the first players in each line. When he squeezes both hands then each line passes the hand squeeze on to the next person and so on until it gets to the last player in each line. As soon as the last player receives it, he has to run as fast as he can back to the beginning and dive to grab a beach ball. The first to do so wins and then the line rotates to do it again. Everyone loved it and there was some pretty funny competition.

On Friday my companion and I decided to fast to find more families to teach. The effects of our fast were so fast we were quite surprised. As we left to work a man called out to us and motioned for us to come to his house. We did so and got to know a really cool family. His name is Elton and he lives with his wife, son, and mother. His son's friend and his neighbor also were present. We taught them the Restoration and felt a special spirit during the lesson. We then went on to knock on other doors and the same thing happened. At the end of the day we realized that at all the houses that we knocked doors, not one rejected us! We saw many blessings for our decision to fast.

Sunday morning as we arrived at the church we were pleasantly surprised. Two of our recent converts, Anderson and Lucas, had arrived earlier (30 minutes before church starts) and had come biking or walking. As they waited for church to start they read from their copies of the Book of Mormon. We were very impressed and happy. However, it didn't end there. Anderson became good friends with the Young Men's president and sat with him during sacrament meeting. Then to everyone's surprise and happiness, after Anderson was confirmed a member, he bore his testimony! It was quite a good Sunday experience for us.