6 Months!!!!

Olá gente! Tudo bem?  

So! As you can read by the caption of this week's blog, I have officially as of this week been a missionary for the last 6 months!!!  It's crazy!  It's gone by so quickly and I know that the other 18 will go by just as quick, or so I've heard from every other missionary I've talked to.  It's an exciting milestone, but it's also a humbling experience to think that I've still got so so so so so sooooooo much to learn and do here! Milkshakes to celebrate.  

It's been a milestones week for the house though! With me at 6 months, Elder Rodrigues at 1 year, and Elder MacDonald with 18 months.  All in one week!  Elder Rodrigues decided to celebrate in an unexpected way, shaving his head! Elder MacDonald is a great stylist, so he did the job and I sat laughing and taking pictures the whole time!  

Don't worry, we shaved off the rest of it!!!  It was just for the photo opportunity!  

This week we had Zone Conference with the mission! It was like an all day thing from 9 AM to about 5 PM.  It included lunch (chili, which I wasn't expecting in Brazil) and interviews with President!  I love President De Oliveria!  He has such an amazing way of just listening and talking so openly.  He gave us great council about the Book of Mormon, and how it gives answers to some of life's biggest questions.  It made me stop and think about how many of my questions and thoughts have been answered by the Book of Mormon and other scriptures?  As I thought, I realized that I've gotten a lot of peace and answers just by reading it and praying about it.  And so it made me even more excited to share that with others!  

This week was also exchanges, but only for about 2 hours.  We had one of our APs and ZLs come over and we split up.  Elder Rodrigues and I went with the AP.  At Zone Conference we got a training about planning out where you want to go street contacting, and when it's planned then God can set peoe right in your path for you to teach.  Well, today was the first day trying this new method of planning, and literally the first person  we met, I asked to do a prayer, and he asked if we could come inside his house and do it with his whole family!  He lived like right where we were standing.  We ended up teaching them for about 30 minutes and sharing the Book of Mormon! I'm so excited to visit again next week.  Truly a big miracle and an awesome way to start off the contacting session.  

We also taught in that same night a guy named Wellington.  He's a super interesting guy, and he's already learning how to he a lawyer and a minister for his church at 18.  He's seen us playing with the kids outside his house all the time and he has many questions.  When we sat down he pulled out a list that said "Questions for the Mormons", and had about 15 questions.  We didn't have time to answer them all, so I'm going to guess a lot of my study will be focused on those questions this upcoming week! 

The most exciting thing that happened this week though was the opening of the Niteroi Group!!  We have our Niterói Ward, but with the chapel being super far, we opened up a group to be a lot closer for those near.  The beautiful thing?  It's only 2 minutes from our house.  Basically our next door neighbors!!  It is being held at the house of a member family.  They have a giant patio they use for a preschool during the week, but it was very cool to be able to partake of the sacrament in a little bit of a different setting.  Bishop spoke and he talked about the humble beginnings of the church post restoration.  Just a few people in a room, studying scriptures and blessing the sacrament.  He likened it to our experience, and how the hope is for this group to grow into a branch and eventually a ward and build a new chapel! So, the beginnings of some exciting things!! 

The meeting itself was a blessing!  Wellington came and learned a lot about how our church meetings function.  We gave out plenty of copies of the Book of Mormon to new people there and plenty of less active members started to come.  Then we had a woman who we have been teaching over the phone contact us, and say she was 5 minutes away.  Sadly the meeting already ended, but we brought her in and she met everyone.  We started talking and realized she's really in a hard state, so we gave her a priesthood blessing.  Afterward I was talking to Wellington, and Elder MacDonald escorted her to the door, and as he did, he offered her a date for baptism, to be able to find closer peace and comfort in her life.  She said yes!!!!!  What a blessing.  I'm excited to teach her more and help her find the strengthening power of Jesus Christ.  

We have seen many miracles here in this work!  Credit where Credit is due....it's all God.  God has provided us with many miracles to teach and to give opportunities for others and us to feel the spirit.  We as a companionship said a prayer of gratitude last night, and I continue in my heart to give thanks for him.  

Thanks for reading all about this week!  Thank you for your help and support and prayers! They have meant a lot to help us here do this work.  It's a great work and I'm very glad to be a servant of the Lord here in Brazil!