A Cooler Area!

Hey guys!  What´s everybody doing?

My Companion Elder H.

   So, let´s talk about the new area!  R.  is quite a bit cooler than I, so my shirts don´t get quite as yellow at the end of the day.  The branch here is very strong, there´s more than 180 active members I think!  The branch President wants to have a stake here in 2 years, so 

we´re working hard! 

Elder H. is actually Brazilian, and I´ve actually already been his comp!  It´s not very common to get the same comp twice, but I´ve got no complaints.  He was in the sextet with me in Itumbiara when we were getting ready to dedicate the new chapel.  He was Elder O. at the time, but since then he has switched all of his tags and everything to Elder H.

   Elder H. is very cool!  He works hard and knows how to do a lot of things very well about the missionary work.  I´m really enjoying working with him!  Right now we´ve got a few investigators, and we´ll see how things go with them.  We have one family, S. (the mother), J. and T. (sons), and F. (daughter).  They seem to have the desire to be baptized, but unfortunately one of their aunts got really sick over the weekend and they had to leave town to care for her.  We have another investigator, P., as well.  She was very excited to learn about the Book of Mormon, but didn´t make it to church because she got sick too.  We´ll see if they continue to show interest this week, and if so
it´s just water!

     We were working pretty far from the chapel in the previous week, but we´ve decided to switch our focus to areas within a normal walking distance of the chapel.  That way we can just walk with our investigators to the church instead of relying on members to give rides.  I like what you said about creating a vision for the investigators of what they can have if they go to church.  I thought about this a lot yesterday.  We only had 2 investigators at church, and neither of them were due to our own effort.  This is something that I´m going to do better this week, explain the blessings and give them a vision of the blessings of being at church.  Some missionaries try to force them, but I feel that if someone is being forced to investigate they won´t truly repent.  I want to be very firm and clear that I want them to want the blessings, and that they need the blessings, and then leave the decision entirely up to them.

     Rio Verde is not quite as calm as Itumbiara, so I´ve stopped carrying my camara around.  I´ll still take pictures whenever I get the opportunity!  I´ve got a few to shoot you guys this week though, and I should still be able to shoot some past you each week.  

 

Well, I´ve got to run!  Keep up the work on the home front and keep me up to date!  Send pictures!

Até mais,

Elder Sweet