December 19th, 2016

     HEYYY sooooo this week was super great! I bet you´re all dying to know who my new companion is!! His name is Elder Araújo and he rocks. We are just really trying to kill it from day one so everyday talking with everyone and teaching in every opportunity! It was definitely a super great week and I am excited to see what´s gonna happen in this area!

      We had the ward Christmas party this week which is more like our ward fourth of July party. It was like 80 degrees and we grilled steaks and ate potato salad. The best ward Christmas party ever! I´m kinda loving this whole Christmas in July thing.

      As always, we had a couple huge thunder storms this week but these were crazier than ever. So yesterday we were just walking in the street, sharing the good news of the gospel when it just started to pourrrrrrr. We were drenched in seconds but at this point not really much you can do so we just kept walking. Lightening is striking everywhere and super close when the thunder and lightening come in the same second. All of the sudden there was a huge lightening strike that struck way close to us (probably not that close) but was super bright and loud and scared the living daylight out of me. But no need to fear, someone saw us in the street getting drenched and screamed "enter! enter!" so we ran over to his house and this guy let us in and we talked about who we are and taught him about the plan of salvation and it was super cool! Funny how often we are put in the perfect place at the right time every day!

      I can´t believe that its almost Christmas but also that here in a little I will have 5 months here in the mission! What happened to the time! That´s crazy!!! It is passing soooooo fast! Cherishing every day here and just loving the work. I love this ward! I love this city and I love Brazil! Hope you all have a super awesome Christmas! 

Pic: Our new filhos. Elder Araújo and Elder Quaresma!!

December 12th, 2016

     HEY sooooo I bet you all have a whole seat but you´re only using the edge of it because you´re all so anxious to know what happened this transfer! SO here it is: I have no idea yet! haha sorry but the whole transfer hasn´t been released yet. The only thing I know is that I am going to train a new missionary. A group of new missionaries will arrive here tomorrow and I´ll find my new companion! Definitely a little sad cause my buds Elder Rafael and Elder Pinheiro were transferred to the other side of the mission. It´ll definitely be weird not having them in the house because I have been with them since I arrived here! I think the idea is I will stay in Vila Aurora but don´t know for sure yet. My companion Elder J. Santos is going to train as well so we are headed to the mission home later today to find out about what´s going to happen! Also love Elder J. Santos but I think we will stay in the same house so it´s not too big of a change there.

     

      BUT anyways this week was jam packed! First and foremost we had the baptism of Roberto! Now that I think of it I am not sure if I ever mentioned Roberto in an email. We met him 2 weeks ago and last p-day the baptism wasn´t 100% yet so I think I forgot to mention him but anyways he´s 27 years old, super happy and now a member! I´ll include some photos of him. The baptism was super good and he asked to share his testimony at his own baptism. It was super cool and he is progressing super well! We finished off the transfer with a bang!

      Teaching a whole ton and reactivating some less-actives that I have been working with since I arrived here which is so awesome to see them enjoying the blessings of the gospel! This Sunday we had a transmission of Elder Holland for all of Brazil! We heard from some members of the seventy and other leaders of the church! It was super legit and last night there was a Christmas activity in the stake and it was super cool cause woo Christmas spirit! 

     

Funny story of the week: So The other day I was on splits with another Elder, Elder Araujo. We were knocking doors and such and we knocked this one door that had a gate half way open and there is this dog super super mad there. This dog was not just barking angrily, this dog wanted to kill us but all is well cause the dog is chained to the house. Jokes on us! We took one step to leave cause nobody showed up and this dog is just going mad. All of a sudden the chain BREAKS and this dog just starts sprinting after us. I tried to close the gate but it was broken so we just started sprinting down the street and this dog running after this. Luckily there are a lot of dogs in the street so this dog started fighting with other dogs and forgot about us. We made it out alive but just barely! 

Anyways this week was awesome and filled with lots of laughs! Hope you all had an awesome week!

Pics: Elder Rafael´s dinner  (just bread, he didn´t eat the peanut butter) 

Before and after pics with Roberto 

December 5th, 2016

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a spectacular week and learned something new every day and are remembering to always wear a seat belt!
      Anyways I am gonna be super sincere and say that this week was definitely one of those weeks in the second half of the sentence they talk about when people say "sometimes you´ll have good weeks and sometimes you'll have bad weeks". People just weren´t jumping after the good news of the gospel like they usually do this week but not just that. This was a week with helping and dealing with lots of struggles which is always great and such but after a week of hearing sad stories and lots of mishaps, it starts to get a a little tough.
       But hey lets start with the highlights of the week cause its December 5th which means only 20 days till Christmas!!! Woooo yay santa!!! So the Christmas life is starting to pick up a little around here but a lot of people don´t celebrate and those that do don´t decorate much plus it's really hot so the Christmas spirit  is having a tough time breaking out this year. I think I could really get used to this whole 80 degrees on Christmas deal! The time is passing so crazy fast.  It's already almost 2017 so that's crazy!
      I don't really have anything crazy exciting or new to say. Sorry these emails are super boring. We are doing a lot of teaching and the weather is crazy as usual. The transfer ends this Sunday so who knows where I´ll be next week but I am super excited for whatever is gonna happen! I am loving the time and work here! The church is true and I hope you all shared the Christmas video on facebook, insta, twitter, snapchat, myspace, and whatever other social media people use! The gospel is true and I have absolutely no doubt about it!!!! Love you all!!!