5-27-08

Elder Jason Allred
Brazil São Paulo South Mission
Rua Dr Luiz da Rocha Miranda, 159
8 Andar, Parque Jabaquara
04344-010 - São Paulo - SP
Brazil

Subject: O Man! I left my pajamas in the kitchen ... again!

Hello everybody!

That subject line is from our quote board. :)
One of the most exciting things about transfers is that we get new agendas! After five weeks mine always seem to fall apart and it´s great to finally get a new one. The first thing I did when I got it was unbind it, laminate the covers, and then rebind it. It should last longer and stay pretty this time.

Well, over the past few weeks, our closest candidate for baptism was Sílvio. But then he finally got a job and now we have lost all contact with him in over 2 weeks.

Throughout the entire week we were working on helping our investigators come to church. By Saturday night about 8 of them had promised on coming. We generally try to stop by their house and walk with them the first time, so early sunday morning we headed of to their homes.
It was kind of disappointing when we ended up walking alone to church. The only investigator that went to church this last Sunday was Leila. Leila has been an investigator for more than 8 months. She has read more than half the Book of Mormon and comes to church about 3 times a month, but had often told us that she didn´t plan on getting baptized for another couple years. However, much to our surprise, on Sunday, she came up to us and asked us when was the next time we were planning a baptismal meeting because she wanted to be baptized! We set a date with her for the 7th of June. That should give us time to review the lessons and make sure she´s ready.

Last night we taught an amazing family! The Lord has been giving us a lot of families to work with. It´s amazing! However, teaching more people at once is often a little more dificult because each individual has his own concerns, doubts, and problems. The family only progresses as fast as it´s slowest member. So, it may end up being a longer process, but there is an internal support system that helps for a lasting conversion, and the blessings are so much greater.
This family we taught last night is golden! The family is Valdir (dad), Sónia (mom), (guess what! - they´re married!), Rogério (~age 25), and Rodrigo (~age 17). They all have committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and come to church on Sunday. We are going to take Eduardo and Dalila (our Ward Mission Leader and his recently baptized wife) to their house on Thursday when we do our follow-up visit.

Well, we spent all day cleaning up the house today. It is a lot more organized. I was able to get rid of a lot of things Elder Tavares had left behind.

Well, goodbye for now. Have fun and Choose The Right!
-Élder Jason Morgan Allred