Written 14 February 2011

Hey Guys,


Thanks for the emails, they were great! Sounds like you guys had a really good Stake Conference! Lots of good talks about missionary work! We also had a good Sacrament meeting where everyone talked about missionary work, and once again, I was one of the speakers. :) It was a really crazy day yesterday. First of all, we had to do a division here in our area, because besides our Ward, Manchester, that we are taking care of, we also have to take care of two other Wards that don´t have missionaries there. So we had a confirmation there yesterday and Elder Clegg went there to be with him and I stayed here in our Ward with our investigators and our confirmation as well. We had another baptism this week!!!!! Woo hoo!!!! He is a really great guy!!!! Super elect and he will really help out the ward there in Bairu. Yesterday, after we got back from picking up investigators to go to church, I got to confirm Rosângela (first confirmation I´ve done on the mission. Usually it is the bishop or the other members.) So that was really cool. Then they didn´t have anyone to help bless the Sacrament either, so that was the first time I´ve blessed Sacrament in Português and since I´ve been on the mission, that was really cool, and finally I gave my talk yesterday. It was a pretty busy day for sure. Right before I got up to give my talk, one of the young men in our Ward came up to me and said that there was a guy waiting out in the foyer for me. So I got off the stand real quick and went out there to see who it was, and it was another investigator who happened to walk into the church to see how it was, :) (oh yeah!) so I invited him in and he sat in and watched the rest of Sacrament meeting. I went back up on the stand and gave my talk.

Afterward, I was waiting for Elder Clegg and Renan, the Bishop´s son, to get back from the other church and end the division and we went to lunch and visited more people to end the day! This week went by really, really fast as well because we have been running around everywhere, working our butts off even more than before haha it´s been going really good here, I´m loving this area so much. I got an email from Elder Glade today again talking about the area and how much he loves this place. I´m loving it as well!! It´s cool to keep in touch with Elder Glade, he´s the coolest!

That´s kind of sad that we have 100 guys in our Stake that could serve missions, and we only have 40 that are actually serving. Glad I´m one of those numbers as well. I got an email from President today telling us that when Elder Scott came and visited our mission, he said that Rio has the potential of being a really influential city with the gospel. Elder Scott said that if the membership in Rio grows, Rio will be the Headquarters for the training of the leaders of the Church here. This was back in 2008. Our President told us that we are fulfilling that prophecy because we have had so many baptisms and new members in Rio these last couple of years, and it is growing so much, so fast!!! I love being part of this!!!!!! It´s the coolest thing to see this amazing miracle of the Lord and to be one of the missionaries that is here, helping this prophecy come to pass.

Last night after we went to sleep, I wake up to the light being turned on in our room and see two missionaries walk in. Elder Paixão and Elder Lane. I thought I was dreaming or something, it was really weird. I guess they came here from Rio yesterday to do something with the Government for Elder Paixão. They said that they were banging on the door for like ten minutes buy I didn´t hear a thing, I was out cold haha. So Elder Paixão already has been in that house and said that he climbed in through the window and got inside the house haha pretty funny. They are cool guys. Today we are having a big district activity that should be really sweet! We also have Zone Conference this Friday and it is going to be right here in Juiz de Fora, so that will be nice not to have to travel for the first time for zone conference.

The mission is really going by a lot faster this last week. With more responsibility I just lose track of time and of what day it is, and the weeks seriously seem like days! I do laundry one day, and the next day it seems, I have to do it again because I´m already out of clothes haha. I love the mission so much and am so grateful for my Bishop here, he is an amazing guy! Elder Glade said that he helped him out a ton on the mission, and he has helped me out so much as well!! He is an amazing bishop and loves the missionaries. I am so grateful to be here in Manchester and be here in this amazing mission!! I can´t believe I only have ten months left, that´s so weird! I´m not ready for the real world yet!

Well, I hope that all of you are doing great! Sounds like you´re keeping busy as well with everything! Tell everyone hi for me. Tell President Jaussi hi for me as well. Have an amazing week and I´ll talk to you next Monday!!

Love, Elder McDonald