In all last week I got really really really wet, but it was REALLY worth it :)

Dear Mom

I'm glad to hear USC was beat up by Stanford. Now the Ducks just have to beat USC and Stanford and it will be smooth sailing to another National Title Game >:). Of course I never really like the Ducks having a high number in the Polls, because I always get super paranoid that the Ducks will fall because they get a little relaxed.

      That's super awesome what Elder Oaks told the people of Utah. I'm sitting here in my seat just cracking up :P. It really should be a general conference talk, or at least published in the Ensign. One thing I've noticed about the politics here in Brasil is that there really is no hatred from one party to the other. Like the two major Parties here in Gravataí are 13 - PT (Partido de Trabalhadors, or rather the workers party), and 15 - PDB (Partido Democratico de Brasil, Democrat Party of Brasil). Of course Politics is a little bit different here in Brasil, they have 50 or 60 different parties that join forces in each city in place of our 2 party system in America. But really the fans of PT don't go around bashing the fans of PDB, and vice versa. Of course there are a ton of adds, and a bunch of music, and people waving banners, handing out pamphlets, and all that jazz, but so much as members and investigators talking about, "All the people from PDB are from the Devil, and we should use all force necessary to take them out!" Or "PT is just a terrible party, why would you ever vote for them". I asked Elder Roman if he'd ever heard someone fight about politics and he looked at me strangely like I had asked a stupid question. "No one here fights over politics, is it normal in the US to fight about such a thing?" Of course there are fanatics in every party, and perhaps because I'm a missionary I don't hear as much of the garbage that goes on, but its pretty nice not to have to debate politics everyday.

I'll fill out the form and send it in priority. Hopefully it will get to me in time, but we will see.

      Speaking of Sherry, every time I show her Senior picture to the families I visit, they are absolutely stunned. They say things like, "She's your Sister?!", "Are you sure she's not a model?" and all sorts of other things like that.

      So our week, well last Tuesday we had a bit of a surprise Zone Conference with Elder Mazzagardi, from the Area Presidency of Brasil. He gave a really powerful talk on pretty much everything, but afterwards I felt rejuvenated to go out and work. I love Zone Conferences, they are some of the best meetings of the mission, especially with General Authorities.

      We then spent most of last week finding... in the rain. It was pretty miserable, but its always 10x worse during the trial than looking back at it. Fortunately at the end of every trial are blessings, and the blessing this week was 11 investigators at church :D. I and his family were at church, and are doing great. They really remind me of the Gonsalves and Brown families, because they are so prepared to receive the gospel :). They are just waiting on some paperwork to finalize the preparations for the Marriage, and then afterwards the baptism! Unfortunately these types of things take a LONG time in Brasil, so we will see how soon will be the Baptism. Its looking like October/November...

      P and Alessandra were both at church as well. One of the talks at church talked specifically about how P's son Alessandro inspired the person giving the talk. She talked about how Alessandro had told her in Primary that he is so grateful for the sacrifices that his mom makes so that their family can stay together and always have food on the table. I'm hoping that this experience will help P to receive the answer she needs to receive her conversion, and be baptised. Everything is ready, I just am waiting on the Lord to give her an answer and change her heart.

      It really is an interesting event that happens when someone receives a testimony. Of course many people receive their testimony (principally people who were born in the church) through time and nourishment in the gospel. But with my recent converts L and L, it really was complete change in an instant. After an instant in a lesson, the Holy Spirit entered and converted them. Its absolutely incredible to see the change in the person from a person to a disciple of Christ happen so quick. Really its the best show on Earth, I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to witness this happen so many times on my mission.

      We are also teaching a woman named S. I didn't even mention her last week I think because I was pretty pessimistic about the whole situation. The first and second time we visited S and N were pretty horrible Bible bashes. N is a less active returned missionary, he served a mission in São Paulo Sul in the 80's and after a separation from his wife and kids, fell away from the church. A member in our ward works at a Market close to N and when he bought Cevada (a coffee substitute that everyone in the church drinks here) she asked him where he lived and what ward he belongs to. After he explained his situation she took down his address and passed it off to us.

      S is VERY Pentecostal Baptist, but last night we had an amazing experience with her. We were explaining about the Book of Mormon and showed her a couple of passages in the Bible that predict the Book of Mormon. One of the Passages was Psalms 85:11 (Which by the way is my LEAST favorite book in all the scriptures, because it really doesn't teach all that much, and is the only book in the Bible that people read here) which talks about how the truth will come forth from the dust. She wanted to confirm that, yes this verse exists in both my bible and your bible, and so she went and grabbed her Bible. She opened up to that passage, and she had already marked the verse in a previous read through the Bible. She really had no idea why she had marked it, because without the context of the Book of Mormon it really is a small overlooked little verse. But the Lord had touched her 2 years ago when she read that verse, enough so to mark the verse. When she saw that mark in her Bible, she received her witness that really what we brought to her home is the Truth. I hope that I didn't butcher this story, because it really was a miracle, from a Bible Bash, to a spiritual experience, complete 180 in our lessons with her.

      The last 4 investigators we had a church were M (a 13 year old young woman, friend of many youth in our ward), G and A(... I don't like to think about that situation), and V (who is still waiting on Prophetic approval for his baptism).

      In all last week I got really really really wet, but it was REALLY worth it :).

All my Love,

Elder Henry

Dear Dad,

I'm actually pretty surprised that the RAM worked for your Mac as computers can get pretty picky about their RAM. Of course I'm not all that excited to come home and see another MacIntosh in our house, but luckily I'll be headed off to Utah soon enough :P.

I wish that I had used my time more wisely in my teenage years like Spencer. He really is such a great kid. I think its super funny that he and Coby are training to be American Ninja Warriors.

Anyways my time has already ran out, I love you lots,

Love,

Elder Henry