Email 3/2/09

Email received March 2, 2009
4th area: Mossoro- Urick Graff
6th companion: Elder Osborne

Leandro Baptism

things here in mossoró are good, i think i am pretty much all the way better now. the first couple days of the week i had to kinda take it easy, but we were able to work hard all week and especially towards the end we got a lot done and it was great. we had a ton of people lined up to bring to church but sunday morning most of them fell through. the ones we did have we should be able to baptize this next week if all goes well. we baptized Leandro yesterday (picture) and that went really well, he is a really awesome and prepared guy and i am certain he will go on a mission here in a year or 2 and be an awesome missionary.

elder kittler was transfered last night out of nowhere, and he left this morning. it was actually pretty sad saying bye to him but it is gonna be awesome cuz the missionary who is coming here to replace him is one of my best friends from another zone. so he will be living with us and it will be a lot of fun. here in this house it is good and bad: good because there are 10 mango trees in the front of the house you can pick from, and out back there are other fruit trees and a tree full of wild berries that are really good. but bad because you sleep with a fan 2 inches from your face and still sleep the whole night drenched in sweat. also you can cover yourself in bug repelant and even sleep with a mosquito net and still wake up with 10-12 new bug bites every morning. good stuff. but yeah elder kittler got a little choked up when we said goodbye, and he has a whole plan laid out that after the mission i am gonna go and live with him in the south of brazil. and he is 100% serious.

speaking of goodbyes, and i hate them just like Lloyd Krismus, this week will probably be our last with Daniel and Andrèia, our golden family. things have been amazing with them, they have been coming to church every sunday and all the activities in the church in the week, and daniel participates more in the lessons at church more than the actual members. i have seen such a huge change in him since we started teaching him. i love him and andreia and their 2 little boys so much. as much as they have been progressing, they hadnt ever officially decided to be baptized until this past week, we were over there one night and watched a church video with them and had taught them an awesome lesson and after they were crying. they then told us that they wanted to be baptized. so this is such a bittersweet sitution cuz they are gonna move this week.

the miracle of missionary work is when you find the people that you know were specifically prepared for you, and that you were specifically prepared for them. that is how it is with this family for me, i know without a doubt that they are one of the biggest reasons that i am here at this exact place at this exact time. that is why it is sad for me that i have been able to guide them the entire way until now, when i have to leave them at the very last and most important step of baptism. i really hope the next missionaries that will fish and baptize them will take good care of them. we will go there this week and probably help them move and i will get a picture with them to send.

have a good week everybody.