Week 9 in Volta Redonda

Hey My Family!


WE BAPTIZED!!!! It was the same man, Marcos, that we´ve been working with these last couple of weeks! We met him doing a contact on the street and asked if we could stop by one day and leave a message, and it just took off from there. He had problems drinking coffee and smoking, but we were able to get him to stop doing both. Everyday that we went back, we noticed that he looked happier. He was a little nervous to be baptized, but we helped him to prepare to get ready. When we went to pick him up to go to Church yesterday, he had on a white shirt, and nice Sunday clothes and he shaved his beard as well! I was so surprised but so happy, it was amazing!! His life had been completely changed, all because of the Gospel. This has been the most amazing experience that I have had on my mission so far; we watched his life completely changed and the Lord blessed us to be a part of this awesome miracle. I have never worked harder before in my life and never have sacrificed so much, but the Lord has blessed me tremendously.

So what´s with this new car business?! That was pretty surprising for sure, carac! But it sounds really awesome for sure! I´m sure I´ll enjoy it when I get back! I can´t believe that this is already my sixth month of the mission, that is ridiculous! Time is just flying by! Today I´m in Barra Mansa again on divisions with the Zone Leaders and Elder D. Silva; it´s been pretty crazy! They´re pretty hilarious for sure. They are obsessed with the word ``crap`` and they think it is the funniest thing ever, oh man. And last night, I couldn´t sleep because Elder Corréa was snoring all night haha oh man. But Elder Glade is in Rio today doing some stuff to get ready to go home next transfer! I can´t believe he is already almost leaving. We have been here in a member's house all day and it´s the nicest house I´ve seen in Brasil yet. We were playing soccer all day and we had a churrasco again, which is always good!

Today I can´t think very well and it´s really hard to write, I can´t concentrate, so sorry this really seems scattered. My English is dwindling gradually I think. I went on divisions last week with Elder Souza, one of the Zone Leaders here in Barra Mansa, and that was pretty sweet. We had a service project the next morning that lasted for about 4 hours. It was pretty crazy. The members there were laughing at me and just saying, oh man, you´re lucky. You get to come on a division to do a service project. It was pretty crazy. We had to haul all these bags of dirt up this little hill thing with these wheelbarrows and by hand and we had to do about 3,000 bags, not even joking. It was crazy, we were pretty exhausted for sure.

Sorry this email was really short, but I will write you all a better one next week, it´s been a really crazy week. Tell Dylan and Sam thanks for the emails and that I will write them next week. I love you all and thanks for the emails. Have fun with the new car and going to Disneyland (SAFADUUUS!!) And I will talk to you next week!

Love, Elder McDonald