Juy 23, 2012

 Oh Yeah!  I got me a new belt buckle!  Sweetness!  Ha.

 Goodbye Alcohol!  Hello Wisdom!

Elder Nogueira and I!  Dois Loucos!  Rapaaaz!

Another week bites the dust. And before I go on about this past week, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope your birthday is wonderful. This week was a rather busy week. It all started on P-Day when we went to the center of São Paulo and bought some ties and I got me a Belt Buckle. My collection continues to grow. That all was a good adventure and we had a great time there. Then we had interviews with President Martins on Wednesday, and that went good too. The next day we had a mission conference (Elders of the "Capital") with Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, and he talked with all of us leaders, and then with all of us together. It was a great meeting, and the spirit was strong there. We have been able to work with several families and individuals to grow closer to Christ. The Lord blessed us with six of our Pesquisadores that went to church. The Lord always is looking out for us and blessing us. Also, we got together with a family of recent converts that are really cool, and he used to drink alcoholic beverages, and even had a nice collection. He was counseled to get rid of it all, so we had a party and poured it all down the sink. That was quite an adventure ... we have a little video on my camera. So, we are continuing to work with Samuel, his parents, Lucimar and Marcos, and his little sister, Sofia. They all went to church on Sunday, which was really cool, since it was the first time Marcos went. We are going to go there again, and talk to them about being baptised. We also have several others that we are working with. Elder Nogueira and I are happy and working here. Que Alegria! Que Regozijo! He is super animated and a good missionary. The scripture that I would like to pass this week, is Mosiah 5:13. We cant serve our Lord and God without knowing Him, and we should always search to know more about Him. He loves us, and wants us to be happy, and we can show our love through our service, as we learn more and more about our Savior and Redeemer. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that He loves us all, and wants us to be happy. Truly there is no greater happiness than that which comes from keeping the commandments of God. We can receive all the blessings of God through His restored gospel. I love you all, and hope that you all have a great week.

Abraço,

Elder Tanner Ross Paxman

PS: Here in Brazil all the missionaries are limited to only walking, no bikes or cars, just the bus and train when we can afford it. Ha. Its a good work out for us. We don't really see many strange animals. There are a lot of birds here, mostly pigeons, but some parrots, and cranes and stuff. There also are wombats. Usually we don't see a lot of animals  --  besides the large amount of dogs, birds, and cats.