Week 60

We were really blessed this week to baptize two more people! Morgana is a 37 year old woman that had marital problems in the past and began living with Poliana, her cousin and our baptism 2 months ago. We´d been teaching her for about a month and after she began living the Word of Wisdom she really saw a difference in her life and decided that she needed to be baptized. I loved hearing Poliana´s testimony every time we visited them because she could only be thankful for the blessings she received after baptism. Morgana was difficult in the beginning but it all paid off because she was baptized with a strong testimony and desire to do good.

Larissa is a young woman that we met through her friend, Mateus, who was baptized a few weeks ago. He was ordained a deacon recently and began to introduce us to all his friends. Larissa wanted to be baptized right from the beginning. Her step-dad was opposed as he was attending another church. Larissa's mom gave her permission and so she joined Mateus as a member yesterday!

Also during the week there was another Helping Hands initiative in the Stake and so we were able to help out and we gathered over one ton of food, cleaning products, and clothes for the people suffering in other cities where the rain had caused a lot of flooding.

Week 59

This week was great! On Monday I received a call from President Campos and he told me that I would train for the next two transfers. I was super excited and I took a bus to Porto Alegre that night. The next day the new missionaries arrived from the São Paulo CTM and we got to know our new companions. My companion is Élder Reis, from Brasília. I always tell everyone he´s Dilma´s cousin. As he is brazilian, I don´t have to worry about teaching him Portuguese!

For the next few days we stayed in Porto Alegre as the Assistants, Secretaries, and President gave a few trainings. Finally on Thursday I was able to head back to Passo Fundo for the District Meeting, and afterwards we headed to Lagoa Vermelha. I only had 3 days to work in my own area this week but we concentrated on two investigators that I´d brought to church last Sunday. One was Mateus' friend Aldoir, and the other, Henry's mom Eliane.

Eliane had a few problems with depression as she'd just arrived in the city after years of abuse from her ex-husband. Her children, especially Henry, helped her out a lot this week and encouraged her to be baptized this Sunday. She received lots of help from the members of the church and was excited after she passed the interview.

In these few days we ran all over the city getting the marriage papers in order for Almeri and Elisandro. The process takes 30 days so we hurried so that they could be married and baptized this transfer. They became excited about the whole deal and Vanderlei and Cristina helped out a lot. I´m excited to add another married couple to the branch.

When I talked with a few stake leaders in Passo Fundo they informed me that Lagoa Vermelha already has the tithe payers and priesthood holders that it needs, and that they´ve already begun the papers to make Lagoa Vermelha a ward. It's been clear to me that the Lord wants a ward here because of all the people He's placed in our path to be baptized.

On Sunday my companion had his first 2 baptisms on the mission! Eliane and Aldoir were baptized and the Spirit was strong during the whole meeting. We got a white shirt and tie for Igor and he passed the sacrament for the first time.

Week 58

This week was pretty busy and I didn´t have much time to work in my own area unfortunately. When I was in my area it was always raining too so we didn´t have as much success. However, due to the help of a recent convert, we were able to begin teaching a family that had recently moved here to the city. The mother had suffered for years under the hard reign of her husband and had finally had enough of it. She took her 3 kids and moved far away, and ended up here in Lagoa Vermelha, where one of her good friend liveds (the recent convert).

We taught them almost daily and prepared her 12 year old son Henry to be baptized this Sunday. He was very hesitant in the beginning but each time we visited him he became more determined in his decision. I was happy because it would be the 5th young man I´ve baptized here. When he came out of the interview he gave his mom a hug, and with a smile on his face said, "I´m going to be baptized, be more obedient, and help you out around the house!" His mom was very touched and she too had a spark of interest in being baptized.

On Saturday I had the opportunity to visit Carazinho, my second area on my mission. There was an activity themed on Missionary Work and so all the elders in the zone were invited to sing and do a presentation. I was very happy to return and visit Carazinho because there were several people that I´d grown very close to there. Most of all I was happy to see Giovanne, a man that is the son of the 1st counselor to the bishop in that ward. He fell away from the church when he was 17 and had spent almost 20 years away fromt he church. When I was there we began visiting him and his family and finally on our last Sunday there he came to church.

This Saturday when I saw him he told me everything that had happened in these 10 months. Ever since that Sunday he never missed another, he married the woman he had been living with and she was baptized, he was ordained an Elder and became a counselor to the Young Men´s president, his wife is counselor in the Young Women, and they´ll be sealed this coming Abril! I was so shocked and happy when they told me everything. They were happy to see me as well and I saw how much their testimonies had grown.

Giovanne and Larissa

On Sunday was the baptism of Henry and I was very proud of Vanderlei because he passed the sacrament, participated in a confirmation, gave a prayer, was called as 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum, and baptized Henry. Not only that but we were happy to see another couple that we´d been working with come to church and be involved with everything. They´ll be the next marriage and great addition to the branch.

Igor also was ordained as a Deacon and will pass the sacrament this coming Sunday. Three more young men that were baptized recently will also become Deacons soon. I was impressed with Igor because after Sacrament Meeting, without being asked, he began collecting all the hymn books and placing them on their shelf.

Week 57

This week we focused most of our efforts on a young woman named Suellen. She's the friend of a young woman in the branch and they go to the same school together. She had previously gone to Passo Fundo with her 2 sisters and this member to a huge Stake dance and had had a great time there. She went to church the following day, last Sunday, and we began teaching her this Tuesday. Every time we visited her to follow up and teach her more I was always impressed with her understanding and being in-tune with the Spirit. When we taught her the Word of Wisdom she had a big problem with coffee, but we challenged her to stop and the next day when we returned she told us that she knew the Word of Wisdom is true because she had prayed about it that night and received a witness that it was. Even though she usually drank around 4 cups each day she stopped immediately.

Suellen's little sister Emili also went to church with her last Sunday and had asked Cristina (who was teaching in the Primary as her new calling for the first time) what she had to do to be baptized. She also participated in the lessons we taught Suellen and after she was interviewed her mom was hesitant because she thought that Suellen was too young still. Then to our surprise Suellen spoke up and bore her testimony to her mom, also telling her how Emili would be part of the Primary where they take care of all the kids and that there are always activities to keep them involved. I was very impressed with her young testimony and I'll never forget how she had said simply after we asked her if she believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet, "I know he was, I felt it."

We also worked with a woman named Marlene, who is the mother of Mateus, who was baptized last week. She had had a few more questions and doubts but this week we were able to help her. Her son Mateus really helped out as well, already demonstrating the change in him after baptism.

Igor (baptized 2 weeks ago) left with us quite a bit during the week and introduced us to all his friends in the neighborhood. He as well changed a ton after his baptism. Even though we had given him a ride to only one session of conference, he came to the other 3 just because he loves church so much now. In between sessions of conference I took a picture with the 3 young men that were baptized in the last 2 weeks:

Igor, Mateus, & Endrius

After the first session of conference on Saturday we held the baptism service for Marlene, Suellen, and Emili. Vanderlei once again helped us out and used his Priesthood by baptizing all 3. He didn´t even mess up once! I was very happy because many of my other baptisms participated in the baptismal service.

On Sunday we were blessed to have a few of the members bring their friends to church. General Conference was awesome! Cristina and Vanderlei loved it especially and were absolutely enthralled with all the speakers and music.

Week 56

This week we had a lot of help from the members. They came with us to our appointments with our investigators and interacted with all of them really well. We began the week with 5 investigators with potential to be baptized and focused on them.

Mateus was really excited for his baptism and so were his parents. I was especially excited because he would be the 4th young man that I´d baptized here. In a few weeks 3 of them will be able to pass the sacrament on Sunday!

Poliana was called to be the Nursery teacher, and Christina to be a counselor in the Primary. It was a big week for Christina and Vanderlei because they were asked to give talks in 2 weeks and Vanderlei was ordained an Elder. We plan on including him in all the blessings we are asked to give and the confirmations as well to help him learn how he can use the priesthood.

Their whole family is very involved with the branch choir and I have to admit, it´s coming along very nicely.

We received a referal from an inactive member and we visited her early in the week. She told us right away that she wanted to be baptized in our church because she felt really good there. Her name is Terezinha.

On Thursday we did a division as usual and I worked in Passo Fundo for 2 days while our investigators were being interviewed. During the division we had the best pizza:

Then on Saturday we had a very busy day visiting all our investigators to invite them to church. At night there was an activity of the branch and there were many of our investigators there, including Souellen, a referal from a member.

The next day was very rainy as it had been all week. Vanderlei was ordained as an Elder, and afterwards baptized Mateus and Terezinha!

Later that day we had an FHE with Vanderlei´s family. As we were talking with Christina about her first Sunday´s experience in the Primary with her new calling she told us how she was surprised when Souellen´s little sister came up to her and asked her what she needed to do to be baptized like all the rest of us. Christina said that she was amazed at this kid´s desire to be baptized and also at how she was already considered a long time member.

We watched Meet the Mormons with them and Christina teared up at the end when she got a glimpse of how she will feel in 7 years when she will send Cauan off on a mission. They are very excited for their first General Conference.

Week 55

This week began again with Vanderlei´s family. We went to their house where they took us to Cristina´s sister´s house. There we were asked to give their son a blessing. One month ago they´d refused anything related to the church but after they´d seen the changes and blessings in Vanderlei´s family they opened up. After the blessing I was touched to hear the powerful testimony that both Vanderlei and Cristina bore about the gospel and the things they suggested that the family do to improve their relationship with one another, principally going to church.

During the week we concentrated specifically on the 3 people that had potential to be baptized on Sunday, namely: Carlos (The branch president's referal), Igor (13 year old young man), and Endrius (14 year old young man).

We were able to finally get a hold of Silvia but she acted very strangely and we came to the conclusion that her husband was opposing her desire to get to know the church better. Unfortunately we had to stop visiting her. She said she would continue going to church but for now didn´t want to think about baptism. I believe she will be baptized, but I don´t think I´ll be here to see it.

Poliana dove right into missionary work and when we visited her in her new house she introduced us to her cousin right away. She´s been through tough times but because of her decision to be baptized she has been very blessed. She already received a calling in the Nursery and is doing all she can to tell her friends about the church.

On Friday we visited Carlos and he gave up on his efforts and preparations to be baptized. The Branch President was super sad with his decision as they´d been friends ever since they were little.

Sunday it rained a ton, but even still we had 16 investigators at church. And the best part was that Igor and Endrius were baptized. Cooler still was that Vanderlei used the priesthood for the first time by baptizing them both.

Later that day we had lunch with Vanderlei and Cristina and they also celebrated Bruna´s 6th birthday. Instead of a cake she chose a torta de bolacha and Cristina made the best one I´d ever eaten.

That night we visited Endrius´ family and we watched the Joseph Smith film. They felt the Spirit strongly and we will work with them to bring them all into the church soon!

Week 54

The week started off with an FHE at Vanderlei´s house with his family. I taught them how to make cookies and even though it was a holiday (Independence day for Brazil), we managed to find a small store still open to buy the things we´d need.

Gabriel, Bruna, Élder Lacerda, me, Vanderlei, Cristina, and Cauan

The next day we visited Silvia with the branch president and we got to know her husband. Even though the lesson we shared was really spiritual and everyone felt it powerfully, it was very apparent that her husband was not at all interested. When we returned he next day we found out that they´d had a discussion and he wanted Silvia to at least wait more before getting baptized.

The same day we visited Guilherme, a young man that had been baptized my first week in Lagoa Vermelha. We taught the Restoration to him with his parents and even though a month ago they hadn´t wanted anything to do with the church, now after a few visits his dad wanted to be married the following Sunday. We explained to them that first they need to be legally married and they said that they´d like to start the process.

On Thursday we contacted a referral from the branch president. His cousin is a member but inactive currently. She has a granddaughter living with her that isn´t a member however. We visited her and found out that her name is Karina, she´s 28, single, studying, and she was interested in getting to know the church. She´d been to church a few times as a small child in another city but she´d forgotten everything about it except that she´d felt really good when she went.

Later that evening we met an awesome family. There´s a grandma named Elena that lives with her 'husband' and grandson Igor. She has many daughters that all live nearby as her neighbors. We were able to get them all together and we taught them. They all paid a lot of attention and we were able to mark baptism dates with many of them.

The following day was Silvia´s interview. However, when we showed up there was no one at home. Later she got in contact with us and told us that she chose to get to know the church more before being baptized due to the things that her husband had said. That night we had an FHE with a member who invited a young man that lived nearby. We got to know him, he helped us make the cookies, and he wanted us to visit him at his house.

In the morning we´d helped Poliana (baptized a few weeks ago) to move from her dad´s house to a house that a member had rented out to her. It was great because now she lives next to 3 member families that will be able to help her.

Helping Poliana move

On Saturday we had a Zone Conference with President Campos. He gave a training on how to use the Book of Mormon more in our teaching.

On Sunday we had Stake Conference of the Passo Fundo Stake. Another ward was created and the anouncement of the dividing of the current stake into two in the near future was made. I was really happy when they called the new elders to be ordained in the stake and Vanderlei was announced. I´m so proud of his progress in these 2 months ever since the first day I knew him.

Silvia didn´t show up to church like she´d promised, and neither did many others invited. However, Elena and her whole family showed up by their own, right on time. The theme of the conference was perfect because it was on marriage and the family. Many of the investigators we had there felt the Spirit strongly.

Week 53

This week started off rough due to some heavy rainfall and rapid change in the weather. On Tuesday we worked hard all day in the rain and cold and the next day I woke up very sick. I had to stay in bed all day but I managed to visit Eliezer in the evening. We taught him about the commandments and all of his siblings loved it. Then we taught Cristina´s sister who lives in front of them and it was a great lesson. At the end we commited them to baptism and principally marriage as they are only living together. Her boyfriend Nilson accepted right off the bat and we became really excited. However, she had many doubts and because of other marriages that hadn´t gone well she declined. We were pretty disappointed because Nilson is so ready and humble but his girlfriend is keeping him from being as happy as Vanderlei and Cristina now are.

On Thursday I was still feeling very wiped out and so yet again I could only leave to teach Eliezer again at night. After him we went and taught some friends of Cristina who had been witnesses at their marriage. They are super cool and we hit it right off with them from the beginning. After we taught them and invited them to be baptized and get married, they both accepted baptism but hesitated with marriage. Something that hinders them both from going to church is that she, Franciele, has to take care of her dad who is stuck in a wheelchair and in a very advanced stage of alzheimers. They have a son named Eric that always has a smile on his face and also wants to be baptized.

On Friday we went to Passo Fundo for a Zone Meeting and we got to know the new missionaries who arrived in the Zone. That evening Eliezer was interviewed and passed! I had to make 3 trips from Lagoa Vermelha to Passo Fundo (each trip by bus taking 2 hours) that day which tired me very quickly especially in my sick state.

The view from the bus window

Saturday was a very productive day as I began to feel better and we were able to visit many of our investigators to invite them to church the next day. As we worked in a specific neighborhood, we met two new families that appeared to be very special. One of them was a middle aged lady that was working in her garden as we passed. I wasn´t going to knock on her door but once again, as it had happened with Vanderlei and Crio the stina, I felt like I should knock anyway. She came to the gate and at first as we introduced ourselves she didn´t appear very interested. I changed how I worded our invitation and then out of nowhere she invited us in. We taught her the Restoration and we saw her almost in tears when we described the First Vision. She felt the Spirit very strongly and accepted the invitation to be baptized in 8 days.

Now as I had entered I´d noticed that she has 2 cars, a very nice house that she keeps very clean, and one could say that her family is very well off. People in this state of living in general don´t listen to us or progress at all because they think they have all that they need. Yet this woman, Silvia, who had known us for 30 minutes  accepted to be baptized quicker than many others in much more humbling circumstances. We were very happy and she said that she would be waiting on us the next morning to take her to church.

And ready she was with her daughter all dressed up and waiting when we showed up with a member the next day. During church they enjoyed the classes and especially the testimonies at the end. We visited her after church and she told us how her daughter Alisi had raved about how cool church was and how much she wanted to go next week and be baptized too. We taught them the about the Book of Mormon and Silvia told us how her husband would return from a camping trip later that day. We prayed a lot that night that he would be as accepting as his wife and that he would have the same desire to be baptized this coming week.

After we left from that appointment I commented with my companion that the Lord is really blessing this area and us because He wants this branch to become a ward. Vanderlei was interviewed and will become an Elder this coming Sunday which is Stake Conference, and we found another family with conditions to be a great addition this future ward. I´m glad I wasn´t transferred from Lagoa Vermelha because the Lord is focusing many miracles here and I´m seeing them every day!

Week 52

This week was super busy due to the preparations for the wedding and many splits with other missionaries. I was only in my own area two days of the week. The climax of the week was the wedding of course. Friday morning Vanderlei and Cristina were married and signed all the papers necessary. Saturday evening we held the baptismal service and all their non-member friends came to participate. There were almost more non-members than members. I baptized Vanderlei and Élder Lacerda baptized Cristina. After the baptisms, while we were drying off and changing clothes, the members finished decorating the church and getting everything ready for the reception.

It was such a cool experience to be there with all our investigators. There were lots of pictures taken, a few wedding traditions done, lots of food to eat, and afterwards there was a dance that lasted hours. All the members integrated with the people that were visiting and after it was over the members as well as the non-members were commenting that they would like this to happen at least once every month!

This is their youngest kid, Bruna.

The Wedding Reception!

The next day Poliana and Grasieli were confirmed with Vanderlei and Cristina. After the Sacrament Meeting the Branch President ordained Vanderlei to be a priest. In a few weeks he´ll be an elder already. A young man named Eliezer that had been to church last week came this week as well. We had been preparing his family to be baptized but they had gotten cold feet the last minute. As Eliezer left church with a huge smile on his face he told us, "Man, I want to be baptized."

That night we watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration with Vanderlei´s family. Everyone felt the Spirit and it was even stronger as they had the Gift of the Holy Ghost now. I gave them a few hymn books, the Liahona, a poster of the Porto Alegre temple, and a few other church materials to stock their house. As we visited with them, a pastor from another church arrived to give them an invite to some 'miracle meeting' of theirs. It was so gratifying to hear the testimony that Vanderlei bore to him as he explained that he wouldn´t be attending the pastor´s church anymore because he had found where he belonged: in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Today we received the transfer email and we discovered that neither one of us will be transferred. I'm happy to stay in the area as Vanderlei and Cristina will be a great source for other baptisms. He used to work as a taxi driver and so he knows almost everyone in the city.

Week 51

We saw many miracles this week with our current investigators. Unfortunately we had to cut a few as always due to their lack of desire to progress, but the investigators that continued with the desire were very blessed and 2 were baptized yesterday!

Grasieli impressed us with her excitement for her baptism early in the week. When we showed up to interview her, she proudly showed us a dress she´d bought with her mom for the special occasion. The also surprised us with her talent (she´s 8 years old) in cooking, she´d made some of the best cupcakes I´d eaten for us. When the other Elder came out of the room from the interview he told us and Grasieli´s mom how he´d felt like the one being interviewed! When he asked her questions she whipped out her Book of Mormon and showed him many scriptures that she´d marked and that had helped her.

When we went to visit last week´s baptism, Lenai, her grandmother told us how the government had taken her and her 4 siblings to a place where kids without parents that can´t provide for them live. We were devastated and we visited the building with the branch president and other members that had been taking care of them. As it always is, our attempts at visiting them were denied due to the complicated nature of the government system. We went to the building where they told us one thing and then when we went to the government building they told us something else.

Lenai´s grandma told us how Lenai had cried when they came to pick her up because, as she told them, "My missionaries are going to visit me tomorrow!" Apparently before we´d met the family, the kids had been doing many bad things, not obeying their grandma, leaving at night, ect. Yet after we began to visit them, teach them, and take them to church, all of that stopped. Her grandma noticed that every night without fail Lenai said a prayer, and guarded her precious Book of Mormon close.

We had been working a lot with one of our investigators named Poliana. She´s 23 and is taking care of her 2 little kids by herself. She has been through a lot of difficulties and trials and had been looking for a purpose to her life. Her mother had tried to kill her, her husband had abandoned her when she was pregnant, and she had felt very alone. When we visited her she always had a smile on because of the light and peace she felt when we taught. We invited her to be baptized and even though she accepted without hesitation, her neighbors gave a lot of opposition, trying to dissuade her from her decision.

On Thursday we had a Mission Tour with Élder Costa, the seventy over Brazil. He taught us how to be more effective and successful and we all enjoyed the way he presented the training in a very funny yet spiritual manner. The conference was in Porto Alegre and so we had to take a bus 6 hours there, and 6 hours back in the same day.

Saturday night we met a really cool family with many kids playing around with each other. They paid a lot of attention to us and the father was very interested, especially when we shared the First Vision. On Sunday we were able to take only one of the kids, named Eliezer, to church. However when he got home he told everyone how it was and they expressed desire to go as well the next Sunday.

One of the best parts of the week was Sunday night, when we held a Family Home Evening with Vanderlei´s family. We were following up with them and teaching them how to hold one in their own house. I shared a message with them on The Family: A Proclamation to the World. The discussion we had was very spiritual and all their kids paid a lot of attention. I made cookies for them and they made a hamburger type thing called Xis. I was very very happy to hear that they are reading the scriptures and praying as a family every day. They´re excited for their marriage and baptism this coming week!

Week 50

Our week started off by rescheduling a few of our lunches so that we could visit a certain family. We had met Micheli and Guilherme last week and they´d shown some interest. They are a young couple recently married. We shared the Book of Mormon with them and they got right down to reading it.

The same day we visited our planned baptism for this week. Her name is Lenai and she was so excited to be baptized she did everything we taught her and woke up on time last Sunday to get her little brothers up and ready for church. She had even brought a friend her first time at church and so we taught him as well during the week. Unfortunately his family wanted nothing to do with it and didn´t let him go a second time. Lenai´s older sister, Eduarda, also showed a lot of interest. When we taught them both about the Book of Mormon they wanted it so bad that they asked for two so they could each have their own copy.

We visited Camila and Daniel during the week and had to stop teaching them because even though they stopped drinking coffee and read the Book of Mormon, they always had an excuse to not go to church, and therefore didn´t progress. It is always sad to cut investigators but not everyone has the desire to follow Christ fully.

On Thursday and Friday we had a division, so I went to Passo Fundo and one of them came to Lagoa Vermelha to stay with my companion. During the division they visited Micheli and Guilherme but they cut themselves from our teaching list because they didn´t want to "change their way of life." However, a few new investigators were found and taught. One older lady named Maria had been having problems with deaths in the family and it always seemed to her like nothing was going her way. When we came back the second time we´d found that she´d read the pamphlet we´d left with her and she had many questions for us. We felt prompted to share the Plan of Salvation with her and she ate it up. Everything made sense to her and we could tell she was hungry for more.

On Saturday we taught a young man named Lucas that lives close to Lenai. He is married with a small son but he told us how his marriage isn´t exactly how he´d like it to be. We taught him about the Restoration and when I asked him how he felt after describing the First Vision he looked down and remained silent for a few moments. When he looked up he said, "I see a light." We felt the Spirit strongly throughout that lesson and we know he felt it too.

When we visited Lenai the same day her grandmother told us how their neighbors had been telling Lenai a bunch of odd lies and rumors trying to dissuade her from being baptized. After she told us Lenai slammed her Book of Mormon on the table and said, "I don´t care about them, I´m going to be baptized tomorrow!" We were impressed with her resolution to be baptized and congratulated her.

Our last visit of the day was to Vanderlei´s family. We taught them about the Priesthood and it´s role in the family. Vanderlei paid a lot of attention and embraced the opportunity he will have in a few short weeks to have the Priesthood and be able to bless his family and others.

As always, there were disappointments with who showed up at church on Sunday but the most important thing was that Vanderlei´s family was there as well as Lenai´s, and that she was baptized. During Sacrament Meeting I saw that Vanderlei´s eyes had teared up. After the meeting all the young women crowded around Eduarda and told her about an activity that they will have this coming Saturday. I was happy with the integration in the branch.

Later on Sunday we visited the house of the young girl, Grasieli, who had almost called a taxi to go to church last Sunday. The branch president came with us and we talked with Grasieli´s parents. Even though they didn´t accept the invitation to be baptized, they encouraged Grasieli to be baptized this coming Sunday!

Week 49

This is our neighbor´s crazy dog. No matter what time of day it is, whether it´s raining or super cold, he never misses the opportunity to go nuts barking at us when we pass. And it´s only to us, with anybody else he´s super chill.

First of all, this week I was super impressed with our family, Vanderlei & Cristina, and their 3 kids, Cauan, Gabriel, and Bruna. They went to all efforts to change their previous way of life in harmony with the gospel. They found out that last week had been fast and testimony meeting and even though only Cauan is baptized so far they all decided to fast for 24 hours as well. Later irmã Cristina told us how Cauan waited until the very last minute, counting down the last 5 minutes before leaping on the table and chowing down dinner!

We found a young woman named Vanusa during the week and after the first lesson, we set a baptism date for her which she accepted without hesitation. However, trying to visit her in the following days, we weren´t able to find her at home and her grandmother didn´t help. We had a dinner with Vanderlei´s family and I was super impressed with the prayers they said before and after. Cristina made a really good lasagna and Cauan made 3 desserts!

Although we had planned a few baptisms this week, they asked for a little more time to get to know the church and others were difficult to find at home. We also had a divisão Thursday and Friday so we switched companions and went to other areas. During the divisão I found a new neighborhood that looked very promising. From what I heard, no other missionary had been there before. It was really humbling to see the circumstances in which some of the people there found themselves.

Saturday night there was an activity of the branch. We impressed the branch president by bringing so many investigators that they almost out numbered the members in attendance. They all enjoyed the night and ate churrasco.

On Sunday it was a bit difficult to get people to church due to Father´s Day. One girl cried because we had picked her up a bit late. She´d almost convinced her mom to call a taxi so she could go to church! During a meeting with the church leaders, I felt proud of our investigators when the Relief Society and Primary leaders began ´fighting´ for Cristina. We had to explain to them that Cristina hadn´t even been baptized yet!

Sunday night we had an FHE with our missionary ward leader, Roberto. We invited Vanderlei´s family and taught them how to hold an FHE on a weekly basis. For the activity and food, I taught them how to make Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup. They couldn´t get enough of them.

Week 48

Last Monday all the missionaries in the Passo Fundo Zone had the opportunity to help all the people suffering closer to Porto Alegre from all the flooding. We worked with the police department in putting together a ton of food, cleaning supplies, and clothing. After getting everything together we worked in placing it all in a huge truck.

As we were working (as part of the church´s Helping Hands program), the news team came and filmed us. Later that day the other elders all called us telling us how we´d passed on the TV during lunch!

During the week we working a lot with Vanderlei and Cristina´s family. We got on top of their marriage and after many miracles we were able to schedule it for the last Saturday of this transfer. The same day they´ll be baptized and the following day confirmed. During our many visits we taught them about the Plan of Salvation, Temples, and Family History Work. They felt the Spirit and were comforted because they had both lost some brothers and sisters to illnesses and wanted to know if they were lost forever.

We found many other families, including a couple that had just been married recently. They paid a lot of attention and asked great questions during the first lesson. However during the week as we tried to visit them it seemed as if they were avoiding us.

We were also disappointed because another family that we´d been working with for many weeks finally decided that they didn´t want anying to do with the church anymore. We heard the phrase that we hear on a daily basis, "My dad was catholic, my grandpa was catholic, I´m catholic, and I´ll die catholic."

The branch president here is very good and in only a few months he´s increased the activity in the branch tremendously. He goes on splits with us and works hard to make this branch a ward.

Week 47

Last week we had transfers and I found out that I would leave Feitoria and be transferred to Lagoa Vermelha. Because of the distance, Tuesday was spent traveling on a bus all day long. I arrived in my new area which is super close to the mission limits at almost 9 o´clock at night, just in time to unpack and sleep. I was excited to return to the Passo Fundo Zone, earlier on my mission I´d been in Carazinho which is also part of this zone. I got to know my new companion Élder Lacerda from São Paulo and we hit it hard the following day.

On Wednesday he showed me around and we did a ton of contacts. I really got to like the smaller area and found out that it´s a strong branch here with about 65 members attending. The president of the branch went out with us for 2 visits and came straight out asking a few of the people we visited when they were going to be baptized. I´m really liking his attitude about missionary work and feel like this transfer will be very successful.

I´d been praying a lot recently to find people ready to receive us and this week the Lord blessed us immensely. I had a goal to baptize 2 this week and even though it´d be hard as it was my first week here we worked hard with a ton of faith. One contact I did told us that she´d already visited the church various times and we marked a visit with her later.

The same day as we were trying to visit some contacts my companion stopped to look at his planner a bit. As I was waiting and looking around I saw a woman putting her clothes out to dry. I had the distinct impression that I needed to clap at her gate. We did so and her son answered. We entered and shared our message with them. They listened intently and understood everything we taught. We felt the Spirit very strongly during our message. Her name is Cristine and her son´s name is Kauã, who is 10. At the end Cristine accepted the invitation to be baptized along with her son. Then she went on to tell us about a dream she had had the night before. She told us how 2 men arrived at her door and even though she couldn´t see their faces she noticed that they had dark pants. They entered and shared a really important message with her and at the end showed her a book. She said it looked like a bible but she knew it wasn´t. On the cover it said, "From God." I almost couldn´t speak afterwards and we went on to teach her about the Book of Mormon.

The next day when we visited her, Kauã had read the part we´d marked and also read until chapter 18 in 1 Nephi! Cristine told us how he´d hardly slept the night before because he was reading. We got to know the his step dad Vanderlei and he too accepted the invitation to be baptized. We set a date next month for them as they will need to get married first but Kauã pleaded with his parents so that he could be baptized this Sunday.

As always there is always opposition as well as success and miracles. We contacted a young woman named 17 and she too accepted to be baptized in 2 weeks. We were shocked when she said she was already married too because 1 out of 100 people here are legally married. She understood everything as well and was super excited. However the next day when we got to teach her husband as well, her mother appeared and began trying everything to dissuade her daughter. We were super sad and invited them to pray about our message and we´ll follow up with them tomorrow.

Saturday morning we were involved with the Helping Hands service project throughout Brazil and in Lagoa Vermelha we gathered a bunch of food for the people suffering in the Porto Alegre area because of the flooding and we also helped another church build their chapel. I learned how to set bricks and the other workers there joked that I could now save money and build my own house Brazilian style in the Unites States!

Saturday night we visited a really cool young woman named Morgana that is really involved with another church. She has a lot of pressure from her family to reject us, yet she continues to listen to our messages. We had some very spiritual lessons with her and I promised her that she would receive a testimony of her own if she only would pray and visit the church. I challenged her to dare to stand alone and we´ll see if she has the courage next week.

Sunday was a very busy day and even though we were going to have 2 baptisms, the water in the whole city was shut off. However we called them up and they let us fill up the font. I had the opportunity to give a talk, and after Sacrament meeting we had the baptisms. Kauã´s little 5 year old sister begged to be baptized too, she saw how happy her brother was. A young man named Guilherme was also baptized.

Week 46

This week was full of water. I don´t think I´ve seen this much water in my life. In the past 8 days, it´s rained non-stop 7 of them! A few days we woke up to what seemed like a hurricane, the rain and wind were so strong and they were occasionally accompanied by hail. The only day it didn´t rain was Sunday, and I took a few pictures of the roads in the aftermath. Needless to say, just as they were beginning to finally drain and dry, the rain started up again today!

 Despite all the water, we continued to work all week as we were preparing 2 more investigators to be baptized this week. Their names are Natã, and his older sister Vanessa. We had visited their house early in the week to find their father Ricardo home, without a job. During the lessons that we taught, he was very interested and asked some really good questions. He understood everything we taught him and was super touched during the First Vision. When we came back the other day to teach his wife, he told her just before we taught the First Vision to her, "You have got to pay attention to this part, it´s super important and the truest thing I´ve ever heard." We really felt the Spirit during the lessons and we always left in awe at their receptiveness. One time before we left he told us he´d read the part of the Book of Mormon that we´d left marked for him and he would have some questions for us when we returned the next day.

When we taught Ricardo´s family about the Word of Wisdom his daughter Vanessa left the house right then with some money and returned 10 minutes later with milk and chocolate powder to make chocolate milk. She announced, "From now on we don´t drink coffee." I´d never seen someone so determined to follow the Lord´s commandments. The change in her heart was very quick and we saw that she had really been prepared beforehand to receive the Gospel. She set a good example for her little brother Natã who followed her in her determination to keep all of the commandments. Natã is friends with the family of Silvana who was baptized two weeks ago and they had brought Natã and Vanessa to church with them on the Sunday that they were confirmed.

Another young women that had been brought to church invited us over to visit and teach her during the week. Her name is Geovana and she too had a strong desire to do what is right. We had a very spiritual lesson with her and her mother and they accepted the invitation to be baptized without hesitation. Unfortunately they traveled this weekend and weren´t able to attend church.

During the week there was a young man from the ward that returned from his mission in São Paulo, and he came back all ready to work with us which was awesome. We could tell that he had been a powerful missionary and he had a strong desire to help us out with the missionary work in his home ward. It made us think about the day that we´ll return and how we´ll reach the dreaded day when we´ll have to take off our nametag. It gave us an incentive to work harder to use all the time we had and the rain didn´t stop us from seeing miracles on a daily basis.

As we visited Agatha (baptized last week) to continue teaching her and prepare her to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost this Sunday we were very impressed with her progress. She asked us for a copy of the bible, and had almost read the Book of Mormon through already. She told us how she´d even answered the questions that are in the back of the pamphlets (The Restoration, The Gospel of Jesus Christ, ect.) that we´d given her when we taught her before her baptism.

On Sunday we were very happy to see Natacha, Agatha, Lucas, and our other baptisms from this transfer at church and only lamented the absense of Silvana´s family and Jacira due to the flooding. They literally couldn´t leave their houses because there was water in front of their houses. Later in the evening we had the baptism of Natã and Vanessa and we almost baptized in the streets there was so much water!

Week 45

This week was super rushed and full of visits to make. We visited Vera and found out that she has already started the process to get married with Macário. Even though it will take a few weeks due to the difficulties with the papers and everything she´s making progress. On Friday they made a really good churrasco for us.


Beginning on Tuesday we tried visiting a young man that went to church the last Sunday. His name is Alexandro and he said to us, "I really hope my mom lets me be baptized!" However each time we tried visiting they always sent him out to tell us that they were either sick, not at home, or busy. Unfortunately they really had no desire to learn more even after we talked with them.

Lurdes was a sad visit of the week as well. She had missed church the last Sunday and didn´t come this one either despite our many invites and encouragement. We were puzzled because she´d already been 3 week ago and had loved it. We saw another example of the type of investigators that only investigate until they get the blessings they were searching for. In Lurdes case she was hoping to find a job and after she had accepted us, gone to church, read the Book of Mormon, prayed about it and received an answer, she was able to find a job. Unfortunately then she thought that that was enough and she stopped investigating, placing everything else as a priority before her testimony. It makes us sad when people get answers, the Lord blesses their lives, and because life is good, they forget about their baptism and decide they don´t need Him anymore.

Starting on Wednesday it began to rain and didn´t stop until Friday morning. We visited our recent convert Natacha and she showed us what she had posted on Facebook after her baptism: "I had a really special Sunday! Some time ago I met these two young men, that showed me a new way and taught me many things. This Sunday was really important, I was baptized. I thank God for everything! I thank them for showing me what is right. And I even got a special dinner, American pancakes made by an American!" We had done a Family Home Evening with her family and a member and I taught them how to make pancakes. We were very happy with how firm she was.

During the week we concentrated our efforts with a young woman named Agatha that had also been to church a few times with our other recent convert, Lucas. Her parents were pretty hesitant for a while but with the encouragement and support of Lucas´ family and us, they decided that Agatha would be able to decide for herself if she wanted to be baptized our not. She had been reading the Primary´s Book of Mormon picture book that I´d given to Lucas and had really enjoyed it.

We got to know another family due to the missionary work Lucas was doing. Marlaine and Jonathon have 6 kids and their middle son had woken them up at 7 o´clock for 2 Sundays already, telling them that he needed to get ready so he could go to church. We taught them the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, which they understood well and loved.


After a very tiring Saturday, we came home to a water shortage, apparently the pipes on our street had burst due to high pressure.

On Sunday we had a super busy day. Before church we coordinated all the rides with the members to pick up all of our investigators. Silvana´s family came in a small bus and as you can see, it was quite packed:

What I loved the most is that every Sunday, this family brings their friends as well so we get to know everyone in their neighborhood! Natacha had made friends with the Bishop´s daughter so they came to church together. During Sacrament Meeting we had 7 confirmations, so many that the Bishop cancelled the first talk. After church we had the baptism of Silvana´s oldest son, Jonathon, who is 16. He loved the Young Men´s organization and woke up early to make it even though he had gotten home from work late the night before.


Later that day we had the baptism of Agatha, who had decided to be baptized and had spent the whole week trying to decide on the best dress she could wear to her baptism. After Élder W. Silva baptized her, we both sang a special musical number. We then did a Family Home Evening with her and her family.

Then today, Monday, we woke up to no running water still, and one of the biggest rain storms I´d ever seen. I thought that a hurricane was passing through. Later in the day when the rain finally stopped, we found all the gutters like the one below. There had been so much water that many of the drains had been eroded out and part of the road sunk:

Week 44

This week we focused our efforts on Silvana´s family and Natacha, who had progressed the most. On Tuesday we visited them both, teaching Natacha the commandments and Silvana the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During our visit with Silvana she told us how with all the other pastors and church organizations that came on a weekly basis to their home, her youngest (Brenda: 2 years old) always cried and hid herself. However with us, ever since the first visit she laughed and smiled the whole time. One time she stumbled to the gate to wave goodbye to us and said "tchau tio!" (bye uncle, which is how the kids refer to anyone older than them). For Silvana that really struck her and so she paid more attention to what we had to say.

The next day we brought the other missionaries to Natacha´s house so she could be interviewed, and she passed with flying colors! We set her baptismal date to be this Sunday. We visited Silvana´s family almost daily and helped them to stop drinking coffee. This was a real challenge with them because as they are a very poor family, they don´t have much to eat and coffee becomes the main beverage. We brought things to help them out and without hesitation they stopped drinking and decided to be baptized this Sunday as well. I taught my companion Élder W. Silva how to make cookies and we brought some to Silvana´s family which they enjoyed very much.

After we´d visited them so many times, the kids began memorizing our names and getting better at saying prayers. Every time we left, we´d say a prayer and everyone would fight to be the one to say the prayer. During their prayers they never forgot to ask that their friends Andrew and Silva would be safe. Wednesday afternoon I called President Wright for the last time to say goodbye before he caught his flight to Salt Lake City.

On Friday we had a Zones Conference in Porto Alegre to meet the new President. His name is President Campos and he comes from Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The same city that my companion comes from. We all teased him that he´ll be the next Assistant to the President because of that. When he told us how the change of presidents happened on Wednesday, he said that when President Wright met him at the airport he said excitedly while hugging President Campos, "You´re the president now! Make sense?" We all burst out laughing because it´s exactly how President Wright is. We all liked President Campos and his wife right from the beginning. They have 4 daughters and 1 son. As a missionary he served in the Porto Alegre mission, and the areas he had in our current mission were Lindóia (Porto Alegre) and Bento Gonçalves.

In honor of Independence Day I used a red tie with my white shirt and a blue sweater and sang America the Beautiful, My Country ´Tis of Thee, and the Star Spangled Banner. Afterwards I said the Pledge of Allegiance to an American Flag I´d drawn in my planner! Saturday was very busy as we ran around reminding everyone about church the next day and arranging rides for everyone. There was a Primary party at the church as well which we got Silvana´s whole family to. They enjoyed themselves very much and couldn´t get enough of the trampoline, cotton candy machine, and friends.

Sunday morning as we were heating the water in the baptismal font we were surprised to see Jacira show up having walked all the way from her house with her two little grandkids. She lives a few miles away and had been so determinded to go to church that she refused a ride. During Sacrament Meeting I confirmed her a member and she received the Holy Ghost. After church Natacha´s mom came to be there for her baptism. We had organized a really special baptismal service and I baptized Natacha and 6 of Silvana´s kids: Kauana, Luana, Luan, Vinicius, Willian, and Kelvin. Natacha was baptized first but instead of changing back into dry clothes directly after, she stayed in the door to watch the other 6 be baptized. After everyone was in dry clothes again, Élder W. Silva and I sang another special musical number, "Count Your Many Blessings," which really brought the Spirit to the meeting.

We ran out of white jump suits so after I baptized one of the kids, he ran in the bathroom to change and give his jumpsuit to his brother!

As the bishop signed the 7 new member records he said with a chuckle, "Good work elders, now I´ll have one less talk to assign for next Sunday due to all the confirmations!" Lunch that day was with Filipe and Grasi, who had bought a huge box of food for Silvana´s family after seeing their situation the last week without even being asked. When we delivered it to them, we also brought 2 big bags of clothes that Jacira had brought as well. That night we brought a friend that Natacha had made at church to her house and I made Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup for them. They went crazy taking pictures because they wanted to show all their friends on Facebook that they were eating 'American Pancakes'! After everyone had eaten, we watched Joseph Smith: the Prophet of the Restoration.

Week 43

It seems like each week this transfer gets better than the last one. On Tuesday we visited a contact I´d made the previous week named Natacha. She is a 16 year old young woman that was having a few health problems recently. She told us that she had been searching for a church to join but hadn´t found anything that she´d liked. As we taught her and her mother the Restoration, everything made sense to her and she became excited. Later that day we visited a very poor lady named Seloni that lives with her depressed cousin Ivonette. After we taught them they accepted to be baptized. I talked with Élder W. Silva afterwards and we made plans to do the same thing I´d done with Élder Diamond in Carazinho for Daniele. We wanted to get the members´ help in gathering clothing and food for them.

On Wednesday we brought the other missionaries to Jacira´s house so they could interview her to be baptized. Up until the interview she had kept putting it off and saying that she´d waited 10 years to be baptized and she could wait a little longer. After almost 2 hours of talking with the other elder she came out almost in tears and shouted, "Yes! Yes! I have to be baptized this Sunday!" The rest of the week she had the firmest determination to be baptized that I had ever seen. She realized that it was in the midst of trials and tribulations that we need to seek out and come close to Christ, not when everything is going well.

We visited Natacha again on Thursday and taught her about the Book of Mormon. She told us that she had prayed to know if our message was true and she had felt the same feeling she felt when we were describing the First Vision. She knew without a doubt that she had received an answer to her prayer. We committed her to baptism and she said, "Not even my boyfriend will stop me from going to church and getting baptized!"

Friday morning we had District Meeting and I gave the 10 minutes of English. I made a game similar to charades where there are 2 teams, and they take turns sending one of their teammates to act out an animal or insect using actions and sound only. The catch is the names of the animals are in English and the first team to shout out the name in English gets the point. I had already done this many times and so this time I´d chosen super difficult ones like Humming Bird, Praying Mantis, and Dolphin (as opposed to Dog, Cat, Cow, etc.).

Friday afternoon we visited Angelica, the contact we´d made last week that had already been taught by the missionaries in Santa Cruz. We´d already taught her several times and so we challenged her to be baptized. Unfortunately she´d chosen a different path and didn´t want to give up the world to be baptized. She told us, "It´s always been my dream to get 2 tattoos and to be a magazine cover model and I know that I won´t be able to do that after I´m baptized." The saddest part is that she is only 12.

The same night we visited our recent convert, Lucas, that had been baptized 2 weeks ago. We gave him the picture of his baptism and he showed it to his friend, Luan. He also showed Luan the Book of Mormon picture book I´d given him and began to explain to Luan all the things that he had learned. I was super impressed with our 9 year old convert when he explained what his CTR ring meant, showed his favorite parts of the picture book, and then pointed to a picture of Joseph Smith and said, "If you´re going to go to church you have to know who this guy is!" Before we left Luan came up to us and asked if he could be baptized. Lucas leapt right up and showed him exactly how to be baptized in the water and even remembered the words that I had used haha!

Luan took us to his house nearby and we talked with his mom, and 9 other siblings. The next day we returned and taught them the Restoration. What surprised me the most was that everyone paid attention and even told their friends waiting outside to wait because they wanted to listen to our message. They are very poor yet there was a different spirit about their home. They recognized the importance of what we were saying and asked very intelligent questions for a bunch of kids, the oldest being 16.

Saturday night we went to the farewell of a young man here that will serve in Argentina. His family lives right in front of our house.

On Sunday as we were opening up the chapel an older couple walked up and asked us if it was the Catholic church. We told them where it was but invited them in to attend the services. They accepted and walked right in. Soon after, a member rolled up in front with Luan´s family, the back door opened, and kid after kid hopped out, I didn´t know that 9 kids could fit in the back of that car! We picked up Natacha and her cousin Tamirez who were waiting all ready at their front door, and even Lurdes walked to church. The bishop´s jaw dropped when he saw the 17 investigators we´d brought to church. After church we held Jacira´s baptismal service and Élder W. Silva and I sang a special musical number. Later when we visited her at home she said she´d only cried from joy twice in her life: when her daughter was born, and when we sang at her baptism.

This Sunday marked the last Sunday that we have President Wright as our mission president. The mission had made a goal to have baptisms in every area as our thank-you and farewell to him, and the majority of the 100 some areas did so!

Week 42

Last Tuesday we had the opportunity to go to the temple in Porto Alegre. For lunch before the session we ate with a family that seemed 100% Americanized. They all speak English fluently, and all the kids were going to school in Utah and returning to Brazil during the Summer. Their son is even serving a mission in Salt Lake right now. They served us nachos with brownies for dessert! At the temple we were able to see the missionaries from other Zones which was cool. When we returned to Feitoria, our bishop sent us pizza delivered for dinner. He´s starting up with a pizza business and told us that he´d send us pizza every Tuesday night. He´s the best.

Tuesday evening as we were on the bus a contact I´d made the week before named Sabrina passed us and recognized us. When I´d contacted her she´d shown a lot of interest and even given us the cell number that she usually uses. On the bus she talked with us and we set up a time to visit her. Unfortunately she works two jobs and doesn´t have a lot of free time but she continued to show interest. She´d been through a bad marriage and was trying to figure out what to do with herself now. I thought about the contacts I´d been doing and realized that this week especially it seemed like every contact was a golden one. The Lord sure is blessing us in this area.

On Wednesday we visited an older lady named Jacira. She had been living with a less active member for years but something happened and he moved away. She had always wanted to be baptized (it´d been 10 years that she´d been saying that) yet she kept putting it off saying, "I need to be more prepared." She´d also been attending church for 10 years, had a strong testimony, and had already been reading D&C, and the Pearl of Great Price as well as the Book of Mormon. The last week she´d told us that she would be baptized this coming Summer (December-ish). However, we visited her and after sharing a message about the importance of baptism and not putting it off, she accepted to be baptized on the 27th of June!

Thursday night we had an FHE with Lucas´ family (he was baptized last week). For dinner I taught them all how to make American Pancakes and made Buttermilk Syrup to go with them. At first they were hesitant because the pancakes they eat are thin and eaten with ground beef. They questioned the large amount of batter I had made. However, they understood why after they had their first bite. The 50ish pancakes I´d made for this family of 5 were devoured in less than 10 minutes with cries for more! I would say it was a success. Earlier in the week I had stopped by to give Lucas a CTR ring and Book of Mormon picture book that I´d bought at the temple and while I was making the pancakes he proudly showed me the ring he hadn´t taken off yet and how his sister Evelin had read all the way to chapter 11 with him every night.

Also last week we had made a contact with two women walking the opposite direction. While we were talking one of them asked, "are you guys the elders?" When we said yes one of them told us that her husband is a member and the other woman told us how she had been taught by the missionaries in Santa Cruz but hadn´t been baptized because she moved here. Talk about golden contacts! We visited them several times during the week and helped the husband (Madesson) re-activate himself and taught the two young women.

On Friday we visited a contact I´d made that lived in a closed community. When I found the house, number 17, it was empty. Just as we were about to leave, an older lady came out of the neighboring house, number 16, and asked us who we were looking for. We were a little surprised but we told her that we were trying to get in contact with Dirse and her daugher Brenda. Without hesitation she invited us in telling us that Dirse was her daughter and Brenda her granddaughter. When we entered she told us how she´d been praying for help in her life for many days and had felt that she should step out of her house at the very moment that we were knocking on her neighbor´s door. She said that when she saw us she knew that we were 'good men' and that we would help her. When Dirse and Brenda arrived, they told us that when I´d contacted them at the bus stop the other day, they felt something they´d never felt before. She told us that she never gives anyone her address because of security, but she had seen "a light about us and knew that we were really servants of the Lord." We couldn´t believe what we were hearing but she went on to say that Brenda had turned to her after we´d left the bus stop and said, "They had the Holy Ghost with them, there was something different about them." Apparently they´d been waiting for our visit anxiously. The lesson about the Restoration that we taught was one of the most spiritual ones I´d ever participated in. The next day when we visited them again they accepted the Book of Mormon without hesitation and told us how they´d read the pamphlet we´d left with them (usually investigators don´t) and received an answer that our message was true after they said a prayer that night.

Saturday evening we were called by the Zone Leaders to do and interview for them in their area. As we grabbed the tram in São Leopoldo we saw three deaf men in the middle of the station arguing in sign language! I´d never seen something like it before, they were arguing heatedly yet not saying a word.

On Sunday I we had an FHE with a less-active family and I made cookies for them. After they were all baked everyone in the family was trying to hide them from everyone else because they wanted them all to themselves!

Week 41

This past week was the beginning of a new transfer. I stayed in Feitoria and got a new companion, Élder W. Silva, from Natal, Brazil. It was cool because during my first transfer on the mission I did a division with him for one day and so we´d already know each other. He is the oldest in his family and only active member. He has about the same amount of time on the mission as I do as well. Throughout the week we hit it hard and got a lot done.

On Tuesday we visited the older couple that had been to church a few times. Their names are Macário and Vera. Turns out he had already been counselor to a few bishops and even the president of the stake young men, but had fallen away during the past 3 years. In those years he met Vera and they live together now. We got to know them better and we taught them the Restoration, one the most spiritual lessons I´ve had. At the end we asked Macário, a real quiet guy, to bear his testimony to Vera. We could definitely feel the Spirit in the room when he bore his simple testimony of what he knew. We committed them both to pray in private and ask if our message was true.

When I found out that I would stay for another transfer here, I had begun to make plans and think of what we could do for the next 6 weeks here. As I was doing so, I would say that I was hit with revelation/inspiration. I talked with the secretary of the ward and he helped me print off an updated list of all the members in the ward. We went through the whole list and marked who was active and who was less-active. From the less-actives we printed off all their baptism certificates and planned to visit them during the transfer and re-activate them as well as teach the other members of the family that hadn´t been baptized years before. We created a goal to re-activate and complete many families here in Feitoria.

The first miracle that came from this inspiration was on Wednesday, when we found a boy named Lucas who was the only one in his family not baptized. We invited them all to come to church on Sunday (which was Ward Conference) and invited him to be baptized which he accepted without hesitation. As we taught them the Restoration and the Gospel of Jesus Christ they were very excited and eager to respond to our questions because everything was similar to them and we were igniting the fire of the gospel that had been dormant so many years.

The next day we went to the house of a contact I had done the last transfer. When we entered the house and began to teach, his wife joined us and asked, "you´re the elderes right?" We responded in the affirmative and we discovered that she too was a unactive member from another nearby city. I marveled at how the Lord places people in the missionaries´ path to lead us to his lost sheep. We invited them, Luis and Gislenia to the Ward Conference as well and she was very excited as she heard our message as well.

On Friday we visited Vera and Macário again and much to our happiness they had prayed and felt that our message was true. We taught them about the Book of Mormon which she accepted right off the bat. We committed her to read a part we´d marked and pray about it as well. Then came the challenge, will you be baptized? To which she said, "don´t I have to be married with Macário first?" We said yes and so she decided to do everything to get married so that she could be baptized in a few weeks!

Recently a new Ward Missionary Leader was called and we set up an appointment with him when we had lunch at his house. The meeting was very productive and I saw that he was eager to help and do everything he could to help the work go forward in his ward. On Sunday we really saw his enthusiasm as he tried everything to get the water heater working for the baptism of Lucas. Unfortunately it still wasn´t working when the time came so as we threw buckets of boiling water in the font to heat up the ice cold water we brought Lucas to the font to test the water and see if he still wanted to go through with it this week. I´ll never forget what he said back, "Oh I´ve taken many baths much colder than this!" He made us all laugh. After church we held the service and there were more people there than I´d ever seen at a baptism before. We assigned a few less actives to give the messages and prayers which helped them a lot.

Throughout the week I had been sick with a pretty bad cold, it had rained 2 of the days straight, and the weather had dropped down to the 40´s but we didn´t even notice it because of all the miracles we saw each day.

Week 40

This week we worked a lot with some of the members in this ward to make a choir for the ward conference this coming week. We chose two songs and have been working with them for a few weeks. There is a young man here that is coming back to church and preparing for a mission that has helped us out a lot. He works with bands and records them in his studio. He recorded us singing one of the songs so that we could show the choir how to sing it. It was super cool and because of it the young man is helping us teach his friends.

Oh Saturday I got a really awesome opportunity to give a presentation at an English School called TopWay. A traveling professor had talked to me beforehand in the church which is close by and given me an overview of the slide show that I´d base my presentation on. I talked a lot about the culture differences and what life is like in the States. I was really impressed with the level of English they spoke, and the professor even helped me out with a few words that I´d forgotten after 9 months of straight Portuguese!

The best part of the presentation was the end, when I explained why I was here and about the Church. I told them all about what missionaries do, and bore my testimony to wrap it up. At the end I gave them all pass-along cards and they were very interested. One young man even asked me if he could have the Book of Mormon. Thankfully I always carry at least one with me so I was able to give it to him and for the first time on my mission I explained what the Book of Mormon is in English! I really felt the Spirit testifying of what I spoke.

Before we left they all invited us back and gave us shirts from the school. As we were grabbing our bus we ran into one of the students that had been at the presentation, and during the bus ride we talked about what we do in more detail. He was a 17 year old young man and actually lived really close to our house. We grabbed his address and plan to visit him soon.

At church on Sunday we were very surprised and happy to find that Nicole had come to church all by herself and had even brought the Book of Mormon we´d given her! She loves the Primary and has made many friends there. The older couple that had come to church two week ago also came again and thanked us for passing by last week even though they weren´t at home. After Sacrament Meeting they gave me both of their numbers and asked for us to swing by this coming Tuesday. We see a lot of potential in them.

It´s transfers week this week and so I will stay while my companion goes to another area. I´m excited to stay and have many plans for the next transfer here!

--

Élder Joseph Andrew

Missão Porto Alegre Norte

Caixa Postal 13008

CEP: 91010-971

Porto Alegre - RS

BRASIL