Três Mêses...

Hey everyone!

Well... this week I don’t really have a whole lot to write about. It’s started to get warmer here although some days the wind makes it a little chilly. We teach A, the man I told you about last week, outside every night at eight at his work and man do we freeze some nights! But he’s doing super good! We are reviewing everything because it’s been awhile since he learned it all but he’s progressing really well. He is marked for baptism on the 11 of February so we are passing him every night and he’s doing great!

This week has been another one of those rollercoaster weeks. It started out really good: we were teaching a lot and had three investigators getting ready for baptism on Saturday. However... they all fell through. We have so many investigators that are just one or two steps away from being baptized but something is holding them back! It’s frustrating at times but we are trying to be patient and keep working with them. We are getting closer though. Our biggest obstacle right now is getting them to come to church!! We only had two investigators in church yesterday. Not good!!! They always say ya I’m coming and then they don’t show up! We spend all morning Sunday passing people to bring them to church and nobody can ever come! Everyone uses one of three excuses: I have to clean laundry, I have to go do visits or I went to Praia. It’s ridiculous!

We had one really interesting lesson this week though. We were teaching this lady and I’m pretty sure she didn’t understand a word we said. She didn’t understand ANYTHING!! We were explaining the Restoration and we used an example with some cups she had on her table. The empty cups were the other churches and the cup with a ring and a toy in it represented the Church of Christ with his authority and teachings in it. We went through the Apostasy and everything, explained it really simply and then asked which of the cups represented the Church of Christ. Her answer... God. Apparently she doesn’t understand Portuguese at all, which I guess happens sometimes. But she came to church so we’ve got to figure out a way to teach her so that she can understand us because neither of us speaks Crioulo.

The only other thing that really happened this week was we went on a division for two days with Elder Humphries, one of the Assistants. That was really cool and we learned some pretty cool stuff. This is the last week of the transfer so yes I’m still with the same companion. I’m hoping to stay with him next transfer too, in the same area. We have some work that we feel we need to finish here. We need to help some of these people get baptized, they are so close! Other than that though I’m doing really well. I’m eating well, it’s pretty hard to go hungry and I’m still having a good time. We played soccer this morning for the first time but I haven’t had a chance to play ball. We might look into buying a ball if we are here next transfer because there are courts here. Other than that, things are great. Just trying to work hard and do whatever we can to help these people here. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you every week!

PS I got the letter you sent me finally. I also got one from Grandma and Grandpa Schultz. Thanks!