Week 78 - Transferred to the mission home

I had a great day yesterday!   I baptized a wonderful lady!  She has a way cool conversion story.  I'll tell you about it when I get home.  She bore her testimony before her baptism about how all she ever wished for was her family to be united and happy.  Through the gospel this dream is becoming true.

Hey!  Transfers are tomorrow.  I'm being transferred.  I heard from one of the office missionaries and I'll be the new secretary!  That means I'll have AIR CONDITIONING during the Brazillian summer!!!  It also means I'll be with the mission president a whole bunch.  I'll get to eat lunch with him every week and I'll be living in the mission home.  My p-day will also move to Saturday.

There will be three secretaries when I get there but it will probably be just two after the following transfer.  Elder Williams who is the active executive secretary will train me for one transfer cycle.

A little friend

The downside is I won't be working in the field as much.  I probably won't have the opportunity to baptize or teach as often.  My companion and I will still have an area to work, but everyone says the secretaries are so busy they don't have as much time to proselyte.  I hear we won't have many lunches with members either.  

I'll probably have dinner with Marcio on Saturday.  That will be a lot of fun!  Also, I may be able to check my email daily.   I've heard some rumors about this, but will check with the mission president. I may still only be able to send emails on p-day.

Today, I'm going to say goodbye to several people.

Week 77 - Good things happening!

There are many good things happening in São Paulo.  The zone is planning to baptize thirteen people this week!!!  I hope I don't get transferred so I can at least see many of them baptized.  Pray that all goes well. The ward is doing great. Our ward mission leader comes out with us all the time.  My companion is also really good at teaching.

Today was busy.  I went to the famous Ibirapuera Park and then we had a soccer match with many of the missionaries.   I think my team played for a good hour straight.  I'm exhausted.  Since it was in Ipiranga, I called my good friend Marcio.  He came and played with us.  It was a way fun day.

We rented bikes and rode around the park five times. It was nice to get rid of some energy.  It was the

first time I rode a bike in the mission.

So last week it got down to 13 or 15 degrees Celsius  (52 degrees Fahrenheit) and the next day it was 38 degrees Celsius (101 degrees Fahrenheit).  We have two electric fans for the heat.  The heat for sure isn't fun but I'm just dealing with it and going on with life.

Week 76 - Crazy good -- and sad

Our conference was crazy good!  President Silcox spoke of the importance of attending the temple. Because I was recently blessed with the opportunuty to go with one of my good friends and converts, he mentioned me several times.  Now, everyone teases me -- in a nice way.

Missionaries have struggles too.  We are not perfect and make mistakes.  We strive hard to be representatives of the Savior, but fall short sometimes.  A missionary was sent home early this week. His companion cried bitterly at the news.  It was very sad.

This is a picture of my apartment:

This is a picture of our church:

This was the first Catholic church in Penha.  It was built for slaves.

Week 75 - Independence Day

We had a baptism planned, and a couple more in the zone this week but all were postponed.  We have eleven scheduled coming up.   My zone is doing well.  There are ten elders and ten sisters in it.

My area is doing well too.  Our teaching pool is big!  Our geographic area is also big, so sometimes it is rough getting to appointments.

Today is Brazil's Independence Day. We will be having a Family Home Evening with the ward tonight.  It should be fun!

I never know what season it is here.   One week it is hot and the next week it is nice.  This week has been nice.  It is pouring as I'm writing this and I left my umbrella at a members house...

This week we will have a conference with an area authority.  I'll get to hear from Elder Jairo Mazzagardi.

This past week I was sick.  I just woke up one night throwing up.  Maybe it was food poisoning.  I've turned into such a clean freak lately.  I cleaned up the kitchen for a couple hours the other day after I got sick.

Last week for p-day, I cooked churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) for the zone.