July 11, 2011

Então, This week seemed to truly fly by. Strange. Hmmm. Ha. Time is weird, and that's that. As for the Mother of the Twins, she was baptized Saturday, and it went really well. They twins and Bruno took tons of pictures. (Bruno is a young man about to go on a mission, who Baptized Estela). The Dad says he has a testimony, but he is still waiting for his truck first. I thought it was really cool, because he knows that the church is true because of the Love of the Missionaries and members. He said that the humility is also what makes us true, because everyone is equal in the church. I am so happy for the example of the members here, and remember that you always have an impact, whether you know it or not. And, yes, they are the ones with the bird. The fathers name is Vanderlei. As for Portuguese, I'm still progressing little by little, and day by day, but I can understand more and more. I am excited for the day when I truly can speak normally in Portuguese, and I know with the Lords Help, It can happen. As for the hands part, I guess its gotta come naturally, Ha. I read The Book of Mormon and Livro de Mormon side by side pretty much everyday. I love the Book of Mormon, and I know its really helping me. So, this week I had the amazing experience of doing a division. Elder Macfarlane joined me in Cerqueira César. He is awesome, we talked a lot, and shared stories. He is half Canadian too! And he goes to Waterton every other year. His Moms maiden name was Mercer, and he goes to visit the Knowlton families. Do we know him? Ha. He was really awesome, and I enjoyed it, in fact one of the best days of the mission so far. So I saw Herby the other day, just driving along in São Paulo. Crazy eh? ha. And its actually been cold here, well for here. Ha. Its been 10 C here, which is 50 F. And the humidity makes it feel even colder. In fact, we were sitting waiting for a member to return home for lunch, and an old lady came out of the building. She exclaimed "Nossa!" and turned around so fast I wouldn't even think it was possible, and she about ran over her other friend trying to get back inside. Ha. Also, A man came up to me when we were walking on Pulista, and says (In Portuguese) "Trainer? What are guys called again. Mormons, uhh..." And my companion says "Elders" and then the guy says " oh yeah, my nephews an Elder" He said his name and area, which is a different mission, and then said, "do you know him?" We  said no, and he said its probably because there is a lot of you. Then he said the words he knew in English, because I'm North American. And sadly the only words he knew were profanity. I don't know why I shared this experience, it seemed funnier before I actually wrote it down. Ha. I think he was drunk too. Anyways, this week has been a good week, and I decided to choose 2 Nephi 25:23 as the scripture of this week. We are saved by grace after all we can do. We need to do our part, and do all we can to follow Christ, and I know, even though we aren't perfect, that Christ will help us out with the rest. Without Christ we wouldn't be able to be saved, but we still need to do our part. I love you all, and always remember that Christ lives and loves you.

eating ketchep

I went on exchanges with Elder McFarlene

baptism

-Elder Tanner Ross Paxman