Valença

Hello! this week was transfers, so I'm now in Valença! It's a really cool area. The church here is just a group, of about 25 active members. It's cool, the members are awesome. There's a lot of youth. Church was cool yesterday. I gave a talk in church, and I taught Primary with my companion. 

One member showed up to church with a hat that said ´´Jesus é o Rei´´ Jesus is the king. He then put his umbrella in the trash can, grabbed a chair, and sat down. 50 minutes before church started. He's a neat guy. It was a pretty average week. Not super eventful. 

I was buying pastel the other night, and some guy started speaking English to me. Not the best English, but hey, he could survive in the states. I invited him to church and he said in 2 weeks he will. I asked if we could come to his house and share a message. He said no, he wanted to learn more about us first before we came and taught him more about us. So we'll see if he shows up to church. 

But yeeah, this should be an interesting transfer. I don't have too much to talk about, but I'll attach some pictures. some pictures of old investigators, members, and the new area. also the view from the ferry boat! 

have a good week everyone! 

Santa Cruz:

 

Valenca: These were mostly taken from the roof area of his new apartment

4 Months and Transfers

Hey, everyone!

So I hit 4 months this week! crazy how fast it's going! 

This week was a good one! we taught a lot of really good lessons, found some new people. 

This week, our stake had an activity called ´´Mini CTM´´ which was super cool. it was for kids 12-21 who want to serve missions. We got to teach them different missionary skills, including how to teach and how to make a contact. after, we went to a place down the road and just started to talk to people! It was cool to see all these kids doing missionary work and spreading the gospel!

So there's a spot in our area where it has a super cool view(I'll attach a photo) and yesterday the sunset was way pretty. So we were running to get to the spot in time, and these two ladies were struggling to get a suitcase to their house. So obviously, serving others is more important than a photo, so we helped them take this huge suitcase down a giant staircase, and then we ran back up the stairs, and finally got to the spot. the sunset kinda went away, but it was still a super cool picture. and we got to serve someone! 

There's a spot in our area called ´´banco dos cornos´´ which is a joke here in the Bahia. and I finally took a picture there! 

This week, we had a cool experience with an ex-investigator. We taught her again, and she wants to be baptized! It was way cool, and shell get baptized this next transfer!

And now to talk about transfers... ! will be leaving santa cruz, and im headed to Valença! To get to Valença, I get to ride a ferry boat! It's the only area in the mission that baptizes on the beach! I will live with 3 brasileiros, so my Portugese is gonna get really good, really quick! I'm way excited for this oportunity. It's sad to be leaving my first area but I'm excited for what the Lord has planned for me.

I hope you all have a blessed week <3

Weekly

How is everyone doing? It was another good week here in the Bahia

so I'll start with some good news... we had a baptism this week! It was such a cool experience. such a spiritual experience, and a happy day. I'll attach a photo. 

This week was crazy. one day, an elder we live with was sick, so my companion went to the hospital with him, and I went to the office with one of the secretaries. we had lunch in a house on top of a hill, next to the beach. it has the most amazing view. and of course, it was the one day I forgot my camera. 

Last night, we had an exposição. we went to a park and just started to talk to people, giving out pamphlets and pass along cards and magazines. it was super cool, got to talk to some awesome people! 

This week, we brought a member with us to a few lessons, and he fell asleep during one. he woke up and everyone just started laughing. it was a funny little experience. 

One of our investigators, he's really good at drawing, he drew me a picture of Jesu and it's amazing. He's super cool. we assigned him a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon and to draw the interesting parts.  So if he does it, it should be pretty cool.

So it rained every single day again this week. gotta love the winter here. everybody says it's cold, but the weather feels amazing. I'm loving it. Can't complain about the rain too much, because the summer is gonna be hot!!

Also, this week was President Bangerter's birthday, so this morning, a bunch of us missionaries went to his house and had a little surprise birthday party for him. it was cool, we had a big breakfast, with pancakes, and eggs, and BACON. That's one thing I miss. Real bacon. The cheap bacon here is in huge chunks and people put it in the beans. So to have real, good bacon was awesome. 

Well, I hope everyone is doing well, I love you all, have an awesome week!

Weekly

This week was pretty good. 

it's a little rough with our investigators, and trying to get them to keep commitments, but we should have a baptism this transfer! 

so this week, we ate a lot of lasanha. (IDK how to spell that in English) but generally, we have rice and beans or lasanha. this week was just a lot of lasanha. 

It rains pretty much every day, and last night, at 8 o clock, it just started pouring so hard out of nowhere. It was a bad day to forget my umbrella. We were soaked by the time we got home. It was fun though, the rain feels good. 

We didn't teach a whole bunch of lessons this week, but we met a lot of new people, and hopefully this week, people will be better about keeping commitments. 

I absolutely love being on a mission. It is so cool to be helping people every day, to come to know the restored gospel. To truly be doing The Lord's work. I know this church is true, no doubt about it.

(I forgot my camera today, sorry no pictures) hope you all have an amazing week! 

-Elder Opfar  

No pictures from Parker today, but here is a sample of the weather in Salvador.  

It is either raining or HOT. 

Weekly

Hello! 

this week was really good. we were able to teach a lot of lessons!!

This week, Elder High came out with us one day, and I think every lesson fell through that day. it was interesting. we made the strangest contact with someone. we got coxinha, and walked away, and elder Nascimento forgot to pay. so on our way back he was telling a story, and a girl was walking by us and she heard and started laughing. so he started talking to her, and she's known missionaries before but never got the lessons. but she was curious! so well teach her soon! 

later that night, we were walking down a road, and a bunch of little kids asked me to race them. so, of course, I did it, and I smoked them all haha it was awesome.

the other night, this little kid tried to talk to me in English, and he was super cool. so we asked if we could share a message with his family. they ended up not being home, and it started dumping rain. so we took cover, and a bunch of kids were gathered around trying to speak English with me and elder high. it was really funny, they always get so mind blown when you speak English. 

I cut my own hair this week. it was an interesting experience, and it didn't turn out too bad! 

this week, we taught the Word of Wisdom to one of our investigators. it was so cool, he and his wife threw out their coffee without question. they are golden! the guy's name is Josemar, he's super good at drawing, and he drew us a picture of groot, from guardians of the galaxy! it was super cool

there's a street where we work, where a guy has 2 horses, and every time he rides one, every one gathers around and is so fascinated. 

we got home one night, and there was a bird in our sink. kinda wierd, but, Brazil. I'll attach a picture

Saturday, we had lunch in Ondina, the area of the secretaries, so we went past the beach and took some photos. its super beautiful here. I met some lady, who said she was a member of the church,  but shes seperated. She took a picture with me, it was a funny experience. She invited us to go to a Catholic church with her, so well see about that.

So there is a boy in our ward, Yan. he is 17, and hes the only member in his family. he lives with his mom. his grandma lived with them, but she passed away a few weeks ago. so this week, we were able to teach his mom the plan of salvation, and she came to church this Sunday. it will be so cool, Yan will be able to baptize his mother! I wanna take this time to bear my testimony of the plan of salvation. it truly is the plan of God, the plan of happiness. families can be together forever, and that brings me so much joy. I'm so glad I'm here sharing this message with the people of Bahia. this church is so true, and I'm so thankful for the gospel in my life. 

I hope you all have a good week! 

Parker and His companion, Elder Nascimento