Hey Everybody!

My week has been pretty great! My new companion Elder Cruz is legit. He is a true example of the power of Christ´s mercy. His life has taken a complete 180. Seeing who he is now you would have never guessed the life that he lived in the past. I feel blessed to have him as a companion and to learn from his desire to change and become a better man.

The area that we are working in right now is a little difficult. Because we split the area i was working in between two companion ships my companion and I ended up in the area that we almost never worked in, so this week we had a lot of knocking doors and contacts to do. But the work was good we were able to find a bunch of new people to teach and the best part is that we also found 3 families!!! Having families to teach is like finding gold as a missionary! The gospel was created to help our families be more united and happy here on the earth.

Although my companion and i worked hard this week to find, teach, and invite people to church unfortunately our efforts did not get the results we were hoping for. Sunday none of our investigators were at church, not even the one with whom we had arranged rides. It was a little depressing, but it just means that my companion and I have our work cut out for us this next week.

Also an update about Vanessa and Wellington. There were not baptized or married this week but they are still coming to church and working with the other companionship to marry and get baptized.

And here is an update about the families that we are teaching Cristiani: She is a single mom with three kids: Rafael who is 12 years old and a beast!! haha but seriously he is huge and if you saw him you´d probably think he´s 20, its pretty crazy. Sabrina, she is 8 and loves helping her mom cook. And Natã who is 6 and one day will be as big as his brother. Cristiani loves cooking for people and she usually spends the whole day in the kitchen cooking. She makes cakes and other food for people who order it for parties of other occasions. And she cooks really well too! One time she gave us some cake and it was super good! I love this family a lot and since we have been teaching them they have really taken to heart what we have been saying and want to get to know the church better.

Andrea and Jardel: We found them this week one day when we were knocking doors and they invited us and and made us feel right at home. They have two daughters Gabriela (15 years old) and Vitoria (8 years old). They both work a ton but find time to meet with us to talk more about the gospel. 

Marcelo and Carla: We found them knocking doors as well. When we first meet them they were a little closed off, but after just one visit getting to know them and talking about the gospel they opened up to us and said that they wanted to get to know the church and would pray to know if what we shared is true. They have one daughter who is 10 months old.

There is a lot of work for us to do in this area and hundreds of people for us to meet! Thanks for all the support that you all give to me!

Love,

Elder Rice