Week 27 in Volta Redonda

Hey Guys,


This week was pretty good; pretty interesting. We visited Sebastião again this week; he was voting last week when we tried to baptize him, like we thought, but this week he didn´t want to get baptized anymore. It was pretty disappointing. Everything pretty much fell through, but when we got to church there was a man who walked in by himself and he is really awesome! He said that he lived in Denver, Colorado for about four years and just returned this last year and wants to return there way bad. He is a really cool guy and he loved church yesterday. Yesterday was really good; the Spirit was really strong during all of the meetings and I was so grateful that it gave such a great impression for him on his first visit! It was incredible! The testimonies were amazing! We had a couple that had just returned from a mission in the Campinas Temple and both of them got up and bore their testimonies, it was very powerful! They are awesome!! We were so blessed by the Lord for the success that we had with the people in the church that we had. Irmã also brought one of her friends to visit the church as well. My testimony was strengthened a ton, knowing that if I am doing all that I can, the Lord will bless me. He blessed us with the people that came into the church yesterday. We were doing our part and the Lord did His. Such an incredible experience for me.

Saturday was pretty hilarious. We had lunch with Irmã and Vaviane, they are hilarious! Lunch wasn´t quite ready when we showed up, so they gave me a puzzle to do and said that when I finished it, they would let me eat hahaha. It was too funny. Needless to say, I finished it very quick, of course, and ate without any problems :). They always make the best food, it´s so great! They have a huge house and Vaviane, her daughter, lives in another house that´s above theirs, but still attatched. It was the first time that we ate there and I was giving her a hard time, saying that I´ve been here for 7 months almost and this was the first time that she invited me up to eat in her house for all this time. It was pretty funny. They are the funniest to joke around with. We had lasagna with some other stuff and it was so good! But I put way too much on my plate the second time and got way depressed looking at all this food that I still had to eat after I was already about to explode. It was good though, I made it through! :) Then they brought out dessert, and of course I can´t turn that down. We had cookies and cream ice cream with this Strawberry truffle type thing and it was amazing!! Oh man! We started talking about Elder Young´s fiancé who got baptized while he was on his mission still and how her parents didn´t want her to do it and didn´t agree with it. Irmã told us the same thing happened with her when she was baptized. None of her family agreed with it or supported her with her baptism, but she went through with it and was an example for all of them afterwards. She was telling us that she never thought that her example would be important to them, but then she told us in tears about what happened with her mom just a few months ago. Her mom was in the Hospital really sick, way up in the north part of Brasil, and she went up to visit her. She was on her mom´s bedside for those days that she was up there, and her mom was telling her how sore and sick and scared she was feeling. Irmã told her, Mom, we need to talk to our Father. Irmã said a prayer for them both and afterwards her mom was telling her how much better she felt and how at peace she was and how proud she was of her. It was incredible. She was telling us how it does make a difference for people when they see us and see our example. It was a really powerful experience for me. One that I hope I won´t ever forget from my mission. This family is amazing! They were telling us that we can return anytime that we want after the mission and stay with them. They are amazing! One thing about this area is that there are amazing members whose testimonies have strengthened mine so much; seeing their sacrifices and challenges that they have had in their lives and how they have stayed firm in the Church after everything that they have gone through. The mission really is such an incredible experience; I absolutely love it!

Mom, I finally got the package that you sent! Thanks, it was great! I was very happy to see that you sent some piano music, it´s an awesome piece! Very pretty! Can you send some more music with the next package?

This week another funny experience happened with us on the bus. We were climbing up this huge hill on the bus, and about halfway up the hill, the bus started having problems and started slowing down a lot. All of a sudden, it just stopped and died halfway up the hill. Then, because it´s a stick shift, the whole bus started shaking like crazy, like what happens when you kill a car with a stick. It was nuts! I was holding on for dear life and I had all of these Elderly ladies standing in front of me, almost falling on top of me and smashing me. I was still standing up as well because all the seats were taken up already, and Elder Young was sitting down in the front and said that some guy fell on his lap. It was hilarious!! I was dying laughing afterwards, too funny. Everybody was pretty shooken up afterwards. This is my Disneyland here, crazy rollercoasters every now and then. Gotta love the bus, it´s great.

Well, I hope that everything is going great with all of you guys. Until next week!

Love, Elder McDonald