Audio and Picture!

So the audio is difficult  for Mom to transcribe very quickly so you'll just get the picture.

Bowling

Recordings Worked!

That's so awesome you got to share the message of the Book of Mormon with him! Nice work! Even though you didn't get to leave a Book of Mormon or a pass-along card you definitely planted a good seed. You should start keeping pass-a-long cards in your purse. Just ask the missionaries to get you some. They'd love that. So I got the audio to work. It's just a whole lot easier for me. Especially since we don't get a lot of time every night to write in our journals. And I literally forget about the whole week by the time Monday rolls around again. I'll be sure to attach some pictures this week and hopefully you enjoy the recordings! Love you all so much! Thanks for all the letters and packages from you and Papa and everyone! The only person we can turn to for true and everlasting help is the Savior. I really do enjoy this district. I've heard from multiple missionaries that this one is the best they've been in so far. So that makes me happy. Literally every meal appointment or meeting or something, someone always points out that we (Sister Haws and I) look the same. Too funny. Love you tons!

Our recent convert, Andrew, got married this past week.

One of the scavenger hunt pictures is to catch a stray cat. So we did.

PS from Tera: I will try to transcribe the audio files. They contain great stories of the day to day events of this awesome missionary!

Journal Recording!

Well, I have all of this week recorded for you. I don't know if you'll like it better, but I certainly do. It's so nice being able to remember each day at the end of the day, because when I get to the end of the week, I can't remember any of it. (So the recordings won't work because they record in a format that take a bajillion Mbs. But I'll try to fix it this week and send them in a smaller size and different format. Still love you!)

I've been doing better with pictures as well. I drew up this game we are going to start as a district so that everyone has more pictures to send home. It's sort of a Missionary Scavenger hunt. It'll be fun. But I love you and pray that we can find investigators!

Pic #1 - Sister Haws is one of the other Portuguese Missionary's. We had a zone P-Day where we played games and we both won the prizes. Turns out she's my long lost twin, both in looks and in mind. Cause honestly we have the same ideas at the same moments alllllll the time. Our district's so great.

Pic #2 - Our district at the zone p-day activity. Between the 4 companionship's, we had ​to eat a tray of jello, chug a liter of mtn dew and ice cream, eat four clif bars with no water, and then chug a gallon of water. As you can see, two of the sisters ducked out early. So I ended up chugging the mtn dew, eating 2 clif bars, and then chuggin half a gallon of water. I felt great.......

Pic #3 - All the Boca Rio Branch Portuguese Missionaries.

Pic #4 - One guy we knocked into wanted to take our picture. So we let him. He then wanted our email address so we can get the picture. So here it is.

Maybe Tomorrow!

So, the church internet is down and we can't get library cards, so we only have 10 minutes at the library! But we can get permission to email tomorrow. So I'll be sure to email tomorrow. But if you have any questions be sure to ask too! I'll be sure to send home recordings tomorrow as well! I haven't got to read any other emails yet, but I'll do it tomorrow! I love ya!

Holiday Week!

This week was super good. It was a long week because we had Proselyting Monday because Labor Day was yesterday. But it was a good week still. Last Tuesday after emails we went out to a pier by the beach. We aren't allowed to touch the sand but we can still go out on piers. Which is a little weird, but I'm not complaining. 

Lots of work to be done in our area because of the lack of investigators we have. Our recent-convert Ruth had a friend that we were teaching but she left to go back to Brazil because of family problems. So we're doing lots of finding right now. This Friday we had a District Blitz where the whole district comes together and knocks in one area all of us at the same time to find investigators for a specific companionship. It was pouring when we went. 

Sunday we had our Branch break the fast which is always the best thing in the world, cause you know, food. So good. And yesterday we had a branch bbq where we got to go eat, play some soccer in the rain, and really just strengthen our relationship with our recent converts and members. So much fun playing soccer in the rain. But, that's about it for this week. I've been reading a lot of church history lately in the book I found at the church. And one thing that's really amazed me is that people let dumb little things get in the way of true testimony. For example, a few people decided to leave the church because their missions weren't successful in their eyes. Others left because their horse died on the way to Zion. Another because Joseph Smith accidentally spelled his named wrong. Simple little things that get in the way of not truly applying the gospel into their lives. You can see that in Laman and Lemuel as well. They saw an angel, they heard the voice of God, but didn't apply it in their lives and fell away. Sometimes this happens with investigators as well. We leave feeling the Spirit so strong, but the investigator doesn't apply themselves and doesn't' act. It's so sad. Anyways, done with my rant. I'll keep doing my best to take pictures and keep sending em! Love you all!

My District at Shake Shack

Another Baptism!

Hey, if I receive letters, I send one right back. At least I try my best too. You gotta send them to receive them. We also got transfer calls this week.........and I'm staying in the Brazilian branch! So same address as previously.  The hurricane was supposed to hit us. But luckily it missed us. But it's only the beginning of the season, so we will probably get hit by one eventually. I definitely try to stay dry, but once you're soaked that's when the fun begins. You get the weirdest looks going door to door in the pouring rain. So fun. But we will be safe. I'm feeling much better. It was just a really hot week that week and I think I forgot to drink water, but I'm doing better now. Yeah, we haven't given up on Eduardo, but we are giving him his space and time. Ruth talked to Eduardo's ex-wife, apparently he's bipolar and has ruined lots of relationships because he loses control. Very sad. BUT RUTH GOT BAPTIZED!!! Satan did all he could to stop her. Eduardo, a hurricane. But the Lord always prevails. It was an amazing baptism. Our recent-convert Andrew got to baptize her and it was awesome. So spiritual. And Ruth brought her friend to the baptism too! And she has a baptismal date for the 13th! So that's way exciting. We found this awesome family too. Cirlene, and her two sons Marcos, 16, and Pablo, 12. And then their cousin Ana Maria, 15. They're super awesome! They love when we come over and are super excited to come to church! They are keeping commitments and really do want to know if the Book of Mormon is true. It's so amazing seeing people with such a crazy desire to find the truth. So awesome. Have fun there, say hi to the usual crew for me! And here's a picture as well.

Andrew, Ruth, Elder Naressi, Me