Email 2-9-2010

Email Received February 9, 2010
7th Area: Mossoró- Belo Horizonte
13th Companion: Elder Küster

David Baptism

Me & Elder Lesueur

Isaque Baptism

Aparecida Baptism

another good busy week... and as you can tell from my pictures, i am making my companion do all the baptisms because i have gotten tired of changing clothes 2 or 3 times every sunday and walking around in wet garments. happy birthday to scott this week- actually i think its today. scott, we shall go to Quiznos as soon as i get back. but it won't be the first place i will eat in the USA, because i recently decided it will be panda express. i have forgotten what chinese food is like and i am anxious to remember.

we baptized Isaque and Aparecida this week, both super firm investigators and we had also planned for Sunday night that guy Ítalo we have been preparing, but he lives in that area way far away i talked about. (Macarrão) so if the bus doesn't pass that day or there are complications, it is hard for him to make it to church. but he is firm and we will baptize him this sunday. these neighborhoods Macarrão, Bom Pastor, Nova Betânia, etc are in the middle of nowhere and a 1-2 hour walk from where we live, but since we have been going way out there to the house of Ítalo every day this week to teach him, we have been working more with the people there since there are no members. we are trying to create some groups to form a branch so the church can be established out there where it needs it. but it is very time and energy consuming, walking there and back every day- one day we actually had to go out there, come back for another appointment, go to the center of the city for another, and go all the way back out to finish the work there that afternoon and come back at night. after doing the math, i realized that just that day alone we walked about 40 kilometers which is like 15 miles... i am not sure how much more my body can take haha. but as tired as i have been, it has been even more difficult to sleep at night because of the heat and all the mosquitos.

speaking of sleep, i have pretty much slept in a different place every night this week, doing divisions, staying with a missionary from our zone whose comp got transferred, then spending a couple days in João Pessoa for the council and other stuff. so yeah, i don't even really remember anymore which house i currently live in, but i did get some good letters from you guys and i appreciate it. if anyone wants to send any last letters to me, you will have to send them this week, because any others will only get here after i´m gone.

another baptism i am really excited for is one we are planning to do tomorrow, a guy named Jackson who has been investigating the church and attending for a long time. his bro in law is the elders quorum pres and he always goes, and when i first got here to mossoró we were still teaching him but he didn't wanna mark a date for his baptism. but recently he has been coming to a lot of church activities and stuff and showing more interest so we have started teaching him again and if all goes well, we will interview him and baptize him tomorrow. i think he is 23 or 24.

things are rolling along pretty well, i am happy and healthy and the transfer will be next week (my final one) so my email will come on wednesday. so here in a few days i will find out exactly how i will end my mission- which area, which comp, etc. i actually asked pres ferendes if i could end back in Felipe Camarão, and he said he would see what he could do, but i already know that it usually doesn't work out, so i won't get my hopes up. i am guessing i will probably stay here in the same area with the same comp, which is most probable, or worst case scenario (how the freak do you spell that) i could go to some random area that i have never been to. but either way, it will be good. i will make these last 6 weeks count.
DEUS VOS GUARDE!

love elder sherwood