Week 73 Letter

Monday, July 16, 2012

Thanks for sending the package.  I was transferred, but not very far.  I am actually staying in the same zone with Elder Marque so I will see him every week which will kill the missing him thing.  I really will miss him though.  He is one of my favorite companions.  He is a great missionary with great desires.  I am going to miss the area too.  You have all heard how it is from other transfers, so I will not have to explain it again.  I am going to the Mapim A ward, were I will be the zone leader with Elder Barão, a missionary that I have only heard about, but to not know well.  It will be good though.  This Sunday I did get to baptize a girl that I have been teaching all week.  She has a really cool story.  We met here at an activity were a member brought her and so I started teaching her there, invited her to come to church the next day and she came.  We taught her the first lesson and she wanted to be baptized but she told us that it would be hard for her mom to let her.  I talked with her mom the next day and after about an hour of talking, teaching, and explaining, the mom signed off on her to be baptized if she wanted and if she was really ready.  It was rough, but the mom really ended up liking us a lot.  After we got the signature we talked to her and visited with her and everything.  Sadly, she is not legally married or we would have set up to baptize her too.  Later I was thinking about what I could do to help this girl Isebela and help her mom understand that she is ready.  I was washing the dishes at home when the revelation came.  I taught her all of the lessons as if it was an institute class.  She is really smart so it worked.  I taught the lessons using lots of scriptures from the bible and b of m and had her take notes and make an outline of each lesson.  It was incredible the way that she soaked everything up with a hungry desire to learn and the mom was impressed each day with her addition of notes and sound understanding.  When Saturday came we did the interview and the mom felt very comfortable with her daughter being baptized.  I baptized her yesterday in a very powerful baptism meeting.  The spirit was really strong and the mom came to watch.  After, some of the young women sang a special musical number and everybody became very emotional.  It was awesome.  Also, President Reber and his wife were there to watch, which came as a surprise.  It was awesome.   The mission president is really a cool man and has a great spirit.  It seems like he is a little nervous and lost sometimes, but he will jump right into things in a little bit.  My Portuguese is good.  Way better than my English, hahaha.  I still have accent, but if I say that I am from Rio Grande Do Sul, south state of Brazil, they all believe me.  Sometimes I have to say that to buy stuff because if they know that you are American they sell stuff way more expensive.  I sure like Portuguese.  It is awesome.  I am going to miss it a lot when I get home.  I sent some pics to you.  The other pics are of the shirt that Elder Marque gave me which he used to play soccer professionally when he was home.  

I sure like Elder Marque.  Anyways, well, I am off, but I love you and will be back next week.  Thanks for all of you love and support.  Have a great week.  Tchau tchau queridos.  I love you all, and wish you all a great week!!!