Email for January 28, 2013

This week was pretty good. We had lots of investigators at church. I asked the mission president about staying on the mission two more transfers in my letter and he said we would talk about it. I don´t know what that means. I feel so happy on the mission. It's interesting how on the mission you can get rejected the entire day and still feel great. My companion has his ups and downs still. I think he´s doing much better now. It's hard to start out the mission. I try not to talk in English with him, but its hard. This is the first time on my mission that I live with another American. It's weird speaking in English. He´s learning pretty quickly though. Alex Burt took 4 years of English right? If he did, the language should come really fast. As long as he has a Brazilian companion. If his companion speaks English it will take a little longer. It's raining like crazy hear in Lucas. The mission president made some minimums for our mission. Most of them are pretty normal, but the real big one is 42 contacts per week. That is a lot. We got 24 last week. We missed a day though traveling to Sorriso for an interview. 42 is a lot. Its going to take a lot of work, but I´m sure we can do it. Just like Nephi says. The Lord provides a way. Anyway. I love you all. See yah in a couple years! Marc

Email of January 21, 2013

Hello Everyone! I hope everything is going well. The mission work is going great here. We had a few investigators at church yesterday and the church attendance was much higher than before even though it rained. Elder Edstrom's Portuguese is coming on fantastically. He´s starting to understand what people are saying. It's been raining a lot here. I like the rain a lot, but its not real great for missionary work. Its hard for members to join in the work and for investigators to come to church when its raining. Anyway. I asked the Mission President in my letter if I could stay on the mission for 1 or 2 more transfers. We´ll see how he responds. Most of the people in my group will go home early to start school. I hope he doesn't make me go home 1 early. Anyway. I love you all. See yah in a couple years! Marc

Email of January 14, 2013

Hello family, This week was amazing. The family that we have been teaching got baptised on Saturday and were confirmed on Sunday. It was a miracle. The mother was having some doubts about being baptised and if she really wanted to make the decision. She prayed and prayed for an answer and couldn´t sleep the next night. In the morning she went to work and saw her co-worker (the Branch President) and the answer just came. She new she should be baptised. It is a very humbling experience to see a family decide to follow the Savior and join his church. I gained a greater testimony that a missionary can´t convert anyone. Only the Spirit can. The family is Vera (mom), Renato (dad), and Renã (son). They have a little girl as well who will turn 8 this year. I attached a picture of their baptism. The ward here has started to get into action. They are going to start doing activities and call branch missionaries. I´m really excited about all the work here. It's hard when you want so bad to help someone, but you don´t know exactly what to do. Anyway. I love you all! I have a year and 4 months on the mission today! See yah all in a couple years! Marc

Email of January 7, 2013

Hello Everyone! I´m glad to hear everything is going well. Especially glad to hear that Brent will stay another semester for us to hang out. So this transfer I have had a lot of responsability put on me. I´ll be responsible for a district of missionaries and another greeny. This will be the second time I train a missionary, but this one is American. Elder Edstrom from Salem Utah. He's really cool. Doesn´t speak a lick of Portuguese. He's learning really fast though. The days are a lot more tiring now. Planning, teaching, following up, studying. When I´m not walking in the street teaching, I´m sitting at the desk. I´m enjoying it a lot. Doesn´t leave any time to sit around getting trunky. Only room for working, eating, and sleeping. I like the fast pace a lot better. It's amazing how the simple faith of a greeny can be so motivating in missionary work. We had two investigators at church today. The family we are teaching didn´t come because the mom got sick and the dad went to Santa Catarina to get medical stuff done. It's amazing how fast time goes by now. Anyway. I love you all. See yah in a couple years. Marc