7 June 2011

The first one is President and me and the other two are at the baptism of Milena. Her sister, Letícia is in the black, and she was also baptized. Their mom,Valquíria, was a less active member and is now active and going every week. The little boy is João Vitor and will be baptized when he turns 8 this year.

Hey Guys,

I don´t know if you are wondering why you didn´t get a letter from me yesterday, but in case you were, I have been in Rio since Sunday night, going to renew my visa at the airport. Fun stuff. We left right before Sacrament Meeting on Sunday so I had the other Elders in my district come and stay with the two girls who were getting confirmed. We took off and made it to the Bus Station just in time to get our bus to Rio. It is about a 3 hour drive to get there, so it was a nice relaxing ride. It´s been awhile since I´ve traveled, so I really loved that. We got there and the house was packed with missionaries: the secretaries, the assistants and a bunch of others. I saw Elder Walters, Elder Moore, Elder Clegg, and Elder Gentry who were all going to do the same thing. We had to wake up at 5:30 yesterday morning, P-day, to go to the airport, and the mattresses in their apartment are really bad, so that was fun. Then we finally made it back here last night at about 10:30 or so. We found a Walmart in Rio so we went and made a visit and I ate the first glazed donut in a year and five months, that was great. It was pretty fun hanging out there in Barra da Tijuca. It´s one of the nicest places in the City of Rio so that was cool.

Our zone had 10 confirmations on Sunday, that was really good! This week was more interesting than the others though. We need to find a new area to work because we´ve basically dried out Milho Branco with all of the elect people that were there, prepared to be baptized. We are going to find a new place to work today.

I had a really cool experience at Wanderleia´s house this week, one of our recent converts. We were over there sharing a message with her, and all of the sudden she broke out in tears because her son went to prison because he was involved with drugs. She has been going through a really tough time with her family, with her kids. She is the only one that is a member in her family and actually trying to make their lives better. She has a lot of faith, I have learned a ton from her. I was just sitting there, saying a silent prayer in my head about what I could tell her to make her feel better. She needed to hear something that would bring her comfort. I had an impression to share a scripture with her in Matthew that really helped her out. It was a really spiritual experience for me as well as for her.

We have been gaining a lot more confidence with the members and they have really opened up a ton with us, it has been great! I am trying to work a lot more with them and it has been going really well. The families that we have baptized and been visiting are so amazing! I love going over there to visit. They are the most amazing people and their lives have completely changed with the Gospel. Everyone is so much more happy!

Our President only has three more weeks here with us about; I´m getting really sad. They are going to change the address of the mission office and President Lima is going to be living in a different house as well. I will get the the new mission address as soon as I find out what it is. I think his house and the office are going to be close to Copacabana, the really awesome beach here, close to Botafogo, which is right under the huge Christ statue, so that will be a lot cooler.

Other than that, I don´t know what else has happened this last week. Time just keeps flying by. I can´t believe I only have 4 more transfers on the mission; that is ridiculous. I´m getting worried haha.

Well, I love you guys! Hope that everyone is doing great! Sounds like summer is starting up, that will be cool. Tell everyone hi for me! Talk to you all next week!

Love, Elder McDonald