First transer-Braden in Volta Redonda

Oh man, this week has been the greatest week of my life I think. It´s been so awesome! So we didn't know we were getting transferred until Monday night and we had to be ready to leave by the next morning, so that was fun. Elder Billin, Elder Rezende, and I were all transferred. Elder Billin is one of the Zone leaders in Juiz de Fora as you guys know, Elder Rezende is now the District leader in Tijuca, and I am now in Volta Redonda with my new companion Elder Glade who is our District leader as well. He is from Bountiful and he is so awesome and hilarious! It´s been cool being companions with the District leaders in both areas now because I have learned a ton from them for sure; very sweet! Então, I must begin telling the stories of my many adventures this week.

So, first of all, we got on the bus at about 6 on Tuesday to go to Rio and meet our new companions and head to our new areas, and needless to say, we didn't make it to Rio that day. It was raining a little bit in Rio das Ostras when we left, but on our way to Niteroí, it was getting pretty crazy; there was a ton of flooding and we were driving through it all until we got to a place where they closed the port. I don´t know exactly what happened but I just heard that there was a ton of flooding and a lot of people were dying, especially in the Fevelas. Pretty crazy. It has been raining a lot this last week, but today it is pretty nice outside. So Tuesday, we headed back to Rio das Ostras for that day, which kind of sucked cause I hate saying goodbye twice. I was crying when I had to leave, just looking at Samuel because he was all sad and crying too. haha but it was good. It really is hard to leave people that you care so much about here because you don´t know when you will see them again. I was sad to leave Elder Rebouças there too cause he is hilarious and an awesome Brasilian. So Tuesday, President had all of the missionaries stay in their apartments because of all of the flooding, so we just hung out, played some chess, made a going away cake, American style, and just stuff like that. It was awesome!

The next day, we went to Rio, and made it this time, but we didn't leave until the afternoon cause it was still raining in the morning. It was sad leaving Rezende and Billin, but my new companion and district is awesome! So, here comes the fun part for us. Elder Glade and I are both completely new in our area, so we had to find out where we lived. But none of the Elders knew......thank goodness for the Sisters. Finally have sisters in our district, both Brasilians. Our area is HUGE. It took us an hour and a half to get to a lunch appointment last week and an hour and a half to get back. Crazy. So anyway, they gave us directions how to get to our house, so we´re hauling our suitcases down all of these roads looking for our house. We get to this ``house`` that in reality looks like an abandoned warehouse, not even joking. It was kind of scary. Looked like a haunted house, and Elder Glade is like, “I think this is it”. Elder Rezende was here right before me and said that our house looks like an abandoned warehouse, and apparently he wasn't kidding haha. We opened the door, and there are these creepy stairs and the only light is this dim light and the top of the stairs hahaha it was awesome. We got in our house on the second floor, and it is actually really nice inside. A ton bigger than my other one and there are only two of us. But don´t worry, our house is really sweet and we have members right down the hall that are really awesome. Sister Sandra, one of the neighbors, made us a cake today actually! Hallelujah, I´m excited to eat it! The members here are so, so awesome and I love everything about this place already! It´s so amazing! There is a huge steel factory here, like the biggest one in Brazil. And there are a lot of houses on the hill here that are really sweet! I bet you could look up some pictures of it on the computer. Our Bishop is the coolest guy ever as well. The members here are a lot more outgoing and helpful to us here than in Oyster Town, but I still loved it there.

There are a lot of people here that are obsessed with the fact that we are American though, and it gets tough to teach them about the Gospel because all they want to do is practice English with us. I've met some snakes here as well, snaky girls that is. A lot more than in my last area. They asked me how old I was and I told them 19 and they were like, WHAT, you look like you´re 23 or something, and yesterday I had a girl say that I looked like I was 26! haha She´s like yeah, you have a beard and you´re really tall. haha it was pretty funny, but those kind of girls are just crazy. She asked if I had a lot of girls checking me out in America and that was when I knew it was time to leave haha. Elder Glade is really an awesome Elder though, he is a really good district leader for us because he shows a ton of love for each of the missionaries in our district; it´s great. We have been trying to find more people to teach this week and it is a little challenging, being new to the area, but has been really good for us. We have met some really awesome people for sure. Our chapel is beautiful. It´s brand new and has two stories with the chapel on the top floor and you can see all of the hills and stuff out the window. Really awesome. I´m already in love with this place. And I finally got to play the piano yesterday for Sacrament :) I was pretty dang happy about that. Testimony meeting was so awesome yesterday too, The Spirit was so strong. The members here are incredible. Elder Glade and I also bore our testimonies and it was really cool; a really spiritual experience for both of us.

I have had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life this last week. We were at Jane´s house for lunch, and we asked her if she needed anything and she said that she would like a blessing of comfort because her husband passed away a while ago and she is having problems. I just was thinking of how tough it must be to keep enduring to the end after something like that has happened. I can´t even imagine. So we asked her which one of us she would like to give her a blessing, and she said I could, and I was a little nervous because I have only given a blessing in Português one other time, and that was for the anointing of the sick, but it was a good experience for me to exercise faith. Right when we placed our hands on her head, The Spirit took over and gave me the words to say, the words that she needed to hear for comfort and The Spirit was so strong. When the blessing was over, she was in tears and it was so powerful there. I am really grateful for this experience that I had, to feel the pure love of Christ for someone else and to serve someone else and help them out in their life. This is what missionary work is all about.

Love, Elder McDonald