We Bought a Zoo!

I just sent a google photo link that you can see the pictures from this week! We went to the zoo today for P-Day for something different to do. It was fun. Amazing what monkey's can do with their tails. Very cool acrobatics. We do wear our missionary clothes when we go to public places on P-Day.

But this week was awesome!  We had Zone Conference, and we learned lots about how to be better missionaries.  This Zone Conference we learned that we need to be like bees, and search for and take good care of God´s children.  We are so happy with the progress of our investigators.

B------ will be baptized tonight.  She has been coming to church on her own for 4 months now.  We found her through A-----, her "son in law".  I knew him from when I was in Paulista, and he is dating B------´s daughter.  So one thing led to another. We started teaching her, and she started to keep her commitments, and she is super excited.  She knows lots of members, and the Relief Society president is in constant contact with her.  We know that there is still lots of work to be done with the rest of her family. We are excited to get it done!

B------ is excited to go to the temple, so we are hoping that she can go soon.  When we taught about temples and baptisms for the dead, she had a great comprehension and instantly wanted to go to the temple.  She is in contact with the stake family history director, and they are working for her to be able to bring a family name to the temple the first time. It's really a huge miracle.  Because of one connection, we found someone that was prepared to hear the gospel, and through that one person, God will be able to do a great work.  Not only is there lots of work that she will be able to do with her children, but also with her loved ones that have already passed!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Nielson

P.S. This isn't B------'s baptism. This is V-----'s baptism from last Saturday. I'll share pictures of B------'s baptism next week.

Great Week

Hey!

Recap from last Saturday:

I always forget to talk about what happened at the end of last week.  L---- was baptized!  It was a huge miracle!  She was the first person that we met in the "Predinhos" --  a less active member that lives there told us where she lives and told us the missionaries talked to her many years ago, and that maybe she would like to hear our message again.  We have been working with her ever since.  There were times where we had to leave for a while because she wasn't really progressing, but she found friends and really started moving forward. She was able to quit drinking, and she took this important step in her life.  The bishop baptized her, and it was a great experience for him as well. The next step is to bring all of our recent converts to the temple.

This week we were able to go to the Federal Police to renew some visas and get lots of things done in the office as well.  Things are going well.  Next week is zone conference, so we have been preparing for that a bit this week as well.

V-----´s baptism is tonight.  He is excited, and so is his dad, I----.  He is the man who kept putting off his baptismal date for various reasons. But his girlfriend was baptized last week and I think that made him more committed. It should be a good baptism, I'll tell you about it next week.

My goal before I come home is to find and baptize a whole family. What a blessing that would be!

I hope you all are having a great week, Love you guys!

Elder Nielson

Pretty Normal Week

This week was pretty good.  A-- and S-------- were baptized last week.  Sadly V----- wasn't, but we were able to mark his baptism for August 10th. We will be praying that he can keep preparing and feel the desire to be baptized.

The baptisms were great. The only hitch was that we didn't get the font all the way full before we ran out of water, so they were baptized in about 30 inches of water. Not ideal, but they were able to be completely submerged.

This week we have been working a lot with L-----.  She is S--------´s grandma, and she is the first person that we knew in the "Predinhos".  She has been coming along slowly, and we are very happy for her progressing.  The ward is excited, and the bishop will baptize her tonight.

L----- is excited to do temple and family history work. She expressed to us that she didn't have a great relationship with her mother up until right before she passed away. She felt that her mother changed her heart about their relationship and tried to make up for things before she died. L----- feels that doing her mother's temple work would be a great way to bind them closer together. What a great testimony and faith she has in the temple covenants and sealing power!

We are trying to find new people that we can teach, and we are getting to know new people each day.  Elder H-------, the elder I'm training to take over as Executive Secretary, is doing great. He is already reminding me of things that I have forgotten.  Someone will ask us to do something at the start of the day, and when we get to the end, he reminds me that we forgot to do it.  So that is great.  It's an awesome attribute that will help him succeed in the office. 

I hope you all have a great week!  Love you guys!

Love,
Elder Nielson