Nothin' Like A Good Ol' Fashioned Wedding!

This week has been amazing and filled with miracles! We had the opportunity to marry and baptize 2 of our investigators! The husband, Joilson, was a smoker for 27 years and has had a super rough past, but he moved past all of that and was married and baptized this week. His wife, Aretuza, was in a terrible relationship before Joilson and didn't want to marry anyone. But, she did marry Joilson and they both got to be baptized on the same day! These people are amazing! I have a ton of pictures, so I'll add them. Have fun looking at all of them! I don't have a whole lot to say, but do have a lot to be thankful for! Thank you for all the prayers and everything all of you do for me! Have a great week! Oh! AND last week we had dinner on the beach with some members which was amazing!

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1UWbDZbqwtMvb5_lNp508MEAYUBSicO2E

More Baptisms! (Hopefully!)

Hello all of you wonderful people who read ​my​ emails​ that I send out every week! This week my companions and I had a pretty awesome week! We have been meeting with this family for a long time​...​the same family that had the daughter baptized last week​! ​Well, the parents are finally getting married​,​ NEXT SATURDAY!!!! Woot! We have been teaching them pretty much every single day and they have been super open with us​,​ which has been awesome!!!​ We are going to be able to baptize them on Saturday as well! ​S​o ​that makes​ 2 more baptisms this transfer​,​ at least! Its been crazy these past couple days because we are helping the dad to stop smoking and Saturday was his last night to smoke. We took all the cigarettes he had in the house​,​ except 2 ​(​for that night​)​, and we talked with him on Sunday and he was feeling good​!​ I'm super excited to be part of this kind of change in peoples lives​ AND​ I love being out here helping sons and daughters of God!!! Love you all and have a great week! (Also​,​ I am still a goon​, haha!​ ​S​o​,​ here are some pictures of me still goofing off with my district)​

Mother's Day (A.K.A. the day I come back from the dead)

This week was AWESOME! We are teaching this awesome family that all are working towards being baptized. Their daughter set the example this week by being baptized! WOOOHOOO EDUARDA!!! This family is amazing and their son, Leví, is super funny! He is 3 and tries to talk to us the entire time that we are over there. We just mess around with him and it makes me look forward to being a Dad just because I have a blast with this little kid! In 2 weeks the parents are getting officially married and we are getting the husband to stop smoking and he is doing an AMAZING job! He has such a clear desire to quit and to get baptized...it is truly inspiring. This week we really focused on this family and we are very close with all of them now. AND yesterday I got to talk with my MAMA, which was the best day EVER! It was awesome to see her face and my Dad's and Grandma's. It reminded me of how much I love all of you guys out there and how much I can't wait to see you guys again! And there is only like...what...20 months!? ITS ALMOST HERE! I recognized while I was talking that the next time I we talk again, I would be almost half way done with my mission!

I am super excited to teach some more people and lose some more English stills and struggle more with talking to my family, LOL! Losing my English skills is all part of the process right? I had to lose it to gain the Portuguese in my brain! I love you all and I hope you all had as great as a Mother's Day as I did! 

(P.S. A sister in our ward made me a gluten free pizza that was delicious, so I took a pic of the momentous occasion!)

I hope you enjoy my mission meme that I made too!

                                 

                                                                                                    

The Best of Things Come in 3's

Transfers last week WOOHOO!!!! So I'm still here in my mission, Nova Parnamirim, with Elder Shawkey. BUT, mixing it up a little bit with a TRIO in our mission! Elder Vanace is our new companion! He is super cool and he's from São Paulo, East which is awesome because now we have a Brazilian with us! This week I've already spoken more Portuguese than I have my entire mission!  Its awesome, I now realize just how much I've learned so far and how well I can speak the language! Its been a real confidence booster. This past week we had the opportunity to marry a couple of our investigators and I got to be a witness for it, which seems super cool, but really it was just paperwork stuff, so it wasn't all that awesome. BUT, now I am a CASADOR! ...or just a person that marries people...we don't really have a word for that I guess. Hopefully we will be able to baptize their daughter this upcoming week, which is super exciting! Also, the only way that we could have gotten all the marriage stuff done is with Elder Vanace because of all the technical Portuguese words that were used, which just testifies of the calling of our Mission President! I love being out here and I love all of you! Tchau! Have a great week!!! ​