Eliane and kids baptized!

January 15th

Sup everyone. Another week down- the last week of the transfer! It's been a pretty great week also. We were able to baptize Eliane and 3 of her kids which was amazing! They were pretty much the perfect family. Eliane never had a problem with anything we taught and was always so grateful that we would take the time to help her and her family. Elder Prates made the joke that she was already a member of the church- she just needed to be baptized. We've come to really love her family also. All of her kids are crazy and full of energy so at times it can be hard to teach but they are awesome. During one of our recent lessons, one of the kids coughed or something while drinking a smoothie-type drink and it went all over Elder Prates. While I was laughing at that, another one of the kids threw up the same drink all over the floor. By that point I couldn't really contain myself and lost it. These are experiences I wouldn't have without the mission- i'm so grateful to be here.

It's the start of a new transfer today, and so things are changing a bit. Elder Prates and I will continue to work together here in Canindé, but the other missionaries, Elder Pujol and Elder Otterburg, are being transfered. I'm pretty sad about that cause they're pretty awesome. And they aren't being replaced. Canindé is now a part of the district Cecilia and it's just going to be Elder Prates and I here in Canindé. This will be crazy. Canindé is huge. At one point, there were 8 missionaries here, and now there are just 2. Having 4 already wasn't enough, so i'm not sure how we're going to handle this. Living with 4 missionaries is also a lot better in my opinion but oh well. Everything happens for a reason. I can see myself staying here for another transfer after this new one cause it wouldn't make too much sense to transfer Elder Prates and I at the same time next transfer and replace us with two missionaries who don't know anything about the area. But you never know. Usually missionaries don't stay in the same area for more that 3 transfers.

We haven't had any luck with finding a new church. The church has pretty specific standards and there are no buildings that meet them here. We'll keep looking but i'm not sure if we'll have any luck. There are usually about 50 people at church every Sunday. Canindé has a big inactive problem, so there have been a lot more people baptized than people who are firm. At least the family we baptized seems like they'll be firm for a very long time, but it's still sad. Maybe we'll start visting less actives more this transfer. The main problem is that when the missionaries that baptized them leave, they stop going to church. The church isn't big enough here to get home teachers or ward missionaries called, so it's pretty much all up to missionaries to keep the recent converts active. It also doesn't help that there isn't a single member with a car here, so walking the distance to go to church is a challenge for lots of members.

(this part of his letter is answers to some of my questions)

I sadly haven't been cooking too much recently. Can't really afford it. Don't have much money in my personal account anymore so I've been only spending the mission money. And I need to have a reasonable amount of money in my mission account at all times cause we have to buy a lot of stuff for the church here. The mission still pays for lots of stuff like cups and water and paper towels for the church, and they pay through the missionaries. It takes weeks to receive a reimbursement so it's annoying. We've been eating lots and lots of pasta. I still make pancakes every now and then, but it's not like how it was with Elder Alcantara. I think you need a comp with the same mindset in order to make different food. Cause you need to pay for stuff together. I'd feel bad making a bunch of stuff for myself, but I can't pay for both of us.

We've been getting rain, but it's not as great as you'd think. Here, after the rain, it gets even hotter. And it never rains for very long. It's great while it lasts though.

In regards to the crazy missionaries... yes, this mission has them too. Not sure what some missionaries are thinking. But people have their agency. Don't think it's as bad as Nick's mission sounds.

But I think that's everything for me! Talk to you all next week! Love you guys!

an answer to prayers

January 8th, 2018

Finally a Pday that I get to email! Christmas and the new year sure is different on the mission. Talking to the family was awesome! It was definitely the highlight of the past few weeks. With all of the rules that missionaries have now, the holidays are pretty much just days that you sit around and do nothing. Christmas Eve was spent chilling at a few of the members homes, Christmas day was spent sitting around in the house (aside from the time we had to skype), the 31st was spent with members in the same way as Christmas Eve, and the 1st was spent sitting around at home just like Christmas. It was very strange to sit around doing nothing for such a large amount of time, but we brought out Monopoly deal and played it for hours. All the missionaries are addicted to the game now- so i'm sure they'd freak out if you sent some more in the next package.

Canindé continues to be pretty dang hard. We keep finding people that seem to be awesome, but then they lose interest or we find out that they aren't married and don't want to marry. It's funny, almost every single person here is Catholic, but there sure are a lot of people who don't live the catholic standards. I've realized that what people really want is whatever is easiest. Here in Canindé, it's easy to be Catholic. Everyone else is Catholic, so you fit right in. You also don't have to do anything besides show up to church once a year or tell everyone about how much faith you have in Chirst. The people here really don't want to change their religion. I think that's the only thing going through their heads the entire lesson. When we invite them to pray to god to ask if the church is true, they don't want to. I think they would feel guilty with the knowlege that this church is true so they figure it's better to just keep living how they are. As my testimony and faith in Christ grow, I start to get more frustrated when people don't accept the gospel. It all makes sense! All you have to do is pray and you'll know that too! I know how this gospel has blessed me, and I just want others to share the same blessings. Working with people's agency is tough.

We did have, however, a break through this week. We found a single mother of 9 kids, most of them being very young and rowdy. She said that she had been looking for something like this (our message). She came to church last Sunday and told us about how it was a miracle that she'd been able to come. She has some problems with health that keep her from doing too much physically, and hadn't been able to find anyone to take her to church. None of the members have cars so we couldn't help her either. Somehow she managed to find someone at the last second to take her. She also made the comment during church that she had already accepted "our baptism". As a missionary, you have no idea how amazing it is to hear that. People accept baptismal dates frequently, but they fall through more often than not. This is a diffent type of acceptance. My companion and I had a mini celebration when we heard that. Also, during one of the lessons, she said she had felt that "someone was praying for her in a different language". She told this to her daughter one day before we knocked on her door. I had gived a pretty hearfelt prayer (which means english) earlier that week asking for help to find at least one person who is ready to accept the gospel. We don't always recieve answers like this to our prayers, so this is something that I'll always remember. She will be baptized on the 14th, hopefully nothing comes up that stops it from happening.

In terms of coming closer to Christ, The biggest thing that has helped while on the mission is recognizing God in my life. As you recognize his help that he, without a doubt, gives each of us each day, you start to recognize the specific way that he helps you. You recognize that he helped you in the best way that you could have been helped. In the way that will allow you to grow and come closer to reaching you're potential. You learn what is required of you to recieve that help, and you understand that he really is with you every step of the way. As I learn more about the nature of God, I come closer to Christ.

I was super sad to hear that Pres. Monson passed away! Wasn't a super big surprise, but sad either way. It's been interesting to talk about our modern day prophet during lessons when we technically don't have one at the moment.

Also I think I found my scripture. Mosiah 2:41 I feel like everyone uses this but it really is my favorite.

But that's all for me this week.

Also this guy came to help us look for a new house for the church here cause the church is on the 2nd floor and the church doesn't like that but he was pretty sweet and bought us food and took us to the statue. Here are some pics.