Week 5!

OI!

Wow I can't believe it’s already week 5.  I feel like I just got here but I think the progress is really showing.  I can hold full conversations in Portuguese and understand people pretty well and I can teach lessons without a written script. 

One cool thing the American missionaries do here is the leaving districts hold “American Night” the Sunday before they leave.  There they sing the national anthem, Called to Serve, and God be with You.  Its super cool, and ours is in two Sundays! 

The live devotional we had from Elder Renlund was pretty cool.  One thing I noticed is that I could sense when he was about to enter the room.  About 10 seconds before he came in I felt a huge surge of the Spirit and it really testified to me that that man is an Apostle of God. He also gave us an Apostolic blessing which was awesome.  The temple trips we have to the Sao Paulo temple are super cool even though I fall asleep every time, and today I did the whole last part in Portuguese which was cool, and i did a bunch of confirmations in Portuguese while we waited for the session to start. 

It looks like Reuben is glad to be back home and I hope he’s adjusting well! 

Something that I heard from somebody is that one reason I was called to Brasil is that I personally can teach the gospel best in Portuguese and that I come the closest to God through Portuguese and I thought that was really cool.  I bought a Portuguese quad today at the distribution center so i can start studying and marking it up.  Two Saturdays ago we went proselyting which was awesome and my two companions and I placed 6 copies, but it was just sweet to finally be able to teach real people and try out your skills. Anyway, I love you guys and I know with a firm testimony that the work that I am doing comes directly from God and that my small sacrifice of being away from home for 2 years is 100% worth bringing God´s children home for eternity.  This is the true restored gospel, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and the Book of Mormon came from the mouth and record of the ancient prophets. 

Love, 

Elder Holdaway