Weekly

This week was a pretty normal week.

but Saturday we were able to baptize Valdecí! Her daughter wants a little more time, but it was awesome on Saturday! on Sunday, she bore a super powerful Testimony! 

We found two families that we're gonna start teaching this week, I'm super excited! We were walking next to the river this week, and three dudes called us over. We reluctantly went over there, but we did. We had an interesting conversation, but ultimately, explained were missionaries for the church. they thought it was super cool that we were from the United States, so they took pictures with us. It was super funny. But the next day, we were walking on the other side of the city, and one of the guys was sitting in a garage with a family. He called us over, and one of his friends told us ´´I've always seen you guys walk past, but I've always been afraid to say anything. But now my friend said he knows you guys, so I guess ill talk to ya. What exactly do you guys do?´´ so we explained were missionaries, and then they started asking questions, and they were super interested. they asked if we did studies at people houses, and we said YES! so we set up to go there on Tuesday! 

this week will have lunch every day! for the first time in 4 months! I'm super pumped! one day, were even gonna have dinner! super super pumped. 

also, Sunday, I wore my Spiderman socks, and Elder VW wore his Batman socks. Sister Mathias roasted us, but we wore them with pride haha

Weekly

My week was interesting! we went to Ilheus for zone conference. while we were there, the SR couple got to Valença. in the Bus Station to come back, I got hit on by a man dressed as a woman.. haha

When we got back here, the next day we showed the couple around the city, took them to members houses. We found them a house to live in, and in the process, found a home where we might move. It's above their house, it's super cool! They are an awesome couple. They are from Paraná, here in Brasil. They are super great, they are almost done with their mission. They've already helped so much with the organization of the church here. It was kinda crazy, but they got here and started straightening things up. they're going to give everyone callings, and everything's gonna work a lot smoother. 

Our investigator is still planning for this Saturday to be baptized! and also, her daughter might be baptized with her! 

church was really good, I'm not in the primary anymore, so now I stay with the men. 

this week, I learned how to make potato bread. Sister Mathius(the sr couple) likes to use homemade bread for the sacrament, so she taught us, and will teach the sisters in the group! 

we ate dinner ate lunch at Ravena's house, (the recent convert) and it was super super good! Sister Mathius made a calendar for lunch, so we're going to start getting lunch here! very pumped for that! things are great with Elder Vanderwerff! were working hard! 

today, for p day, we went to Guabim, (the beach here) with the sr couple, they wanted to meet a memebr who lives there, then walk on ther beach a bit. it was fun! and last night, they asked president if next week we could all go to morro de são paulo, (the island) and he said yes! so were gonna go there next pday.

also this week, we were at the Mathius house, and they have a neighbor. hes 6 and his name is filip. he saw us on the patio and he didnt recognize us so he asked who were were. we started talking with him and he was really funny. we told him we were Americans but he didn't beleive us. So we spoke English, but he still said we weren't Americans haha. kinda a pointless story but it was kinda funny in the moment lol

Well, I hope yall all have a good week! falou

Weekly

So last pday was normal, Elder R. Santos packed up all his stuff, and left the next day. tuesday we taught a few lessons, and then that night had our first English class it went great! everyone loved it, so were gonna keep it going. wednesday, we spent the day in the elder Vanderwerffs part of valença. we taught some good lessons. we found a lady who was taught a few years ago, and she was almost baptized, she just needed to get married. well now she lives alone, and she wants to set up a day to have lunch wityh us, and start teaching again! 

Thursday, I had the best lesson of my entire life. It was with the lady who went to church the week before. We were struggling to find her house, we asked for directions, but nobody knew the road we were talking about. So we started walking down a random road, and as we passed a house, we heard someone yell ´´oi!´´ it was the lady! So we went in, and she said she was scared we forgot about her, because we were running a little late. but we sat down and started to get to know her. as we started the lesson, she started to ask some questions. when she went to church, she saw 2 people be confirmed, and receive the Holy Ghost, and she saw people get the preisthood. she asked ´´why do you guys put your hands on peoples heads and do that?´´ we showed her in the bible where it talks about that. she was amazed. She said ´´I've been baptized in 2 different churches, and nobody ever put their hands on my head and gave me the Holy Ghost.´´ We explained the Priesthood. At the end of the lesson, she said it all made sense, especially because it was all in the Bible. She also accepted to be baptized on the 4th of November. The spirit was very strong. we went back there on saturday to teach about the Book of Mormon. once again, she was very receptive and very excited. sunday, she brought her daughter to church, and she really enjoyed it. At the end of church, I talked to her, and she said on Tuesday she wants to talk to us about baptism. She said she wants to be baptized as soon as possible. She said she knows this church is true. She said she learned more from us in 1 week, then she learned in 14 years from other churches. This really showed me that The Lord truly has people that are prepared for His Gospel. 

so its really fun being here with and American companion. People just stare at us in the road, one guy called us twins, and a lot of people ask if we're brothers. A lot of people laugh when we walk by. But it's really funny. 

sorry, I dont have any pictures this week 

Weekly

So this week was really good. Monday was pday as normal, Tuesday was normal, Wednesday, we traveled to Itabuna to have a zone meeting! It was good, but we just went because we had to pick up more material, like pamphlets and planners. So we traveled there overnight Wednesday night and then left the next day at 1. on Thursday, President called and talked to us about how the transfer would be. so I knew my new companion on Thursday! I'm very excited about it. also, Thursday was national kids day! And we got invited to lunch at a member's house! I didn't have my camera, but it was a super good lunch. And then that night, we went to Ravena's house, to make sure everything was good for Saturday, and her mom gave us lasagna for dinner. It was a wonderful day. Friday, we had an activity at the church, it was really fun! We had a message, a game, and food. Good times.

Saturday, we finally had the baptism of Ravena and Sabrina. It was such an amazing day! It rained the day before, so we were a little scared, but they said they would for sure be baptized the next day. So Saturday the weather was amazing. The baptism was super cool, Ravena brought her mom, her aunt, uncle, her mom's aunt, and her grandma, and Sabrina brought her mom! So we had a lot of nonmembers there, and they thought it was super good! After the baptism, we had a little party at Ravena's house. Sunday, they were confirmed! Elder Vander Werff did the confirmations. The frequency at church was the highest its been since I got here. We had 37 people, 8 of them were nonmembers. The meeting was beautiful. We had three speakers. The first two talks were amazing, the spirit was so strong! The third speaker was President Barbosa, the second counselor of the mission. His talk was so so good! and he had a huge announcement! The church approved Valença to become a Branch! So they will finally be recognized as a church unit. The church is finally growing here! Everyone was so excited. Yesterday 2 men were given the priesthood. 

also, we had kind of a miracle. after Sacrament, I noticed a woman I had never seen before. So I talked to her and found out that she has been searching for a church, but hasn't felt right at other congregations. she saw the Sign on the front of our church this week and decided to come. she said, through the speakers, she heard the Voice of Jesus. She asked if we could come by her house this week, and she already expressed a desire to be baptized. she said shes divorced, with 4 kids. her youngest is 4, and he has mental problems. She told us she lives in the poorer part of Valença and she was afraid we wouldnt go to her house. We assured her that we would go there this week, that there's not a problem. I'm very excited to teach her and her family. 

So, this transfer, President had big news for us. Elder R. Santos is going to Brotus, in Salvador, to be companions with the assistant to the president. 

President said he would only leave one companionship in Valença. so, I´ll be here for one more transfer, and I'll be companions with Elder Vander Werff! I'm super excited! its gonna be an awesome transfer! We're gonna start doing an English class on Tuesdays, and the youth were very excited about that! but yeah, I'm very excited to have one more transfer here, I love Valença so much. this transfer, We're gonna focus on families. We're gonna help Ravena's parents, and SaSabrina'sarents, I'm very excited!

This week, at a members house, their 6-year-old son, Antonio, took E. Vanderwerff's camera and took some photos for us, hope yall enjoy.

Weekly

Okay so first off, kinda had a big change this week! I'm in a trio haha. Elder Santos was emergency transferred, so for the last week and a half, me, Elder R Santos, and Elder Vander Werff, are in a trio. So I have an American companion! 

I'm doing super good! My birthday was good! A little sad, because the elder left on my birthday, but it was still good. So yeah we had lunch at Almir's house. Spaghetti, rice, beans, fried sausage, pumpkin, chu chu, chocolate cake, and mousse of maracujá. It was good haha, I took a lot of pictures!

Then after that, we went and worked, and then yeah, all the youth in our group had a surprise party for me! it was super cool, we had cake and coca cola. The youth here is awesome, I love them. 

We were able to teach a lot of good lessons this week! I love it here in Valença. I think I will stay one more transfer! very excited, I really like it here! 

Anyway, not a whole lot else happened this week, just more missionary work! 

And....if you made it this far, here are Parker's pictures from last week, he didn't send a group email, but wrote this to me: 

the craziest thing: we had mice in our house! so we bought one of those sticky traps, and we caught fur mice! we left it out for 3 nights. the first night, caught one mouse, the second night, caught another. the third night, I made a fence out of empty coca cola bottles, and ya know what happened... we caught 2 more mice and a gecko. so now were mouse free in our house! haha