Sounds like Haylee's birthday was awesome! Dave and Busters is always fun =) She was really excited about my email and said it was the first thing she opened on her b-day. I said some extra prayers for her just because of her birthday =)
We had a pretty slow, but really fast week. We did a lot of things, but we still didn't teach as much as I wanted to. We ended up just going to lots of meetings. My district is still doing great! They had 3 baptisms this weekend and because of some special circumstances, they have two more tonight! I'm just trying to get my own area going.
Last Monday, we had a pretty cool lesson. We marked an appointment with a kid who has been playing soccer at the church with the YM and finally had time to teach him. When we knocked on the door, he answered and said he would ask his parents if we could come in. They said that they were evangelical, so I said, "Great, they believe in Christ. Would they like to hear a message abut Him?" The young man kind of paused and said, "Hang on, I'll go and ask them." He came back and said, "you guys can come in." Works every time haha. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ for them and the father, who I think is a pastor, loved it! He was agreeing with everything, but then said he was going to use it in his church. Haha we literally taught the pastor a thing or two haha. He asked us about our experiences in Brazil and what we feel needs to improve her; what the people need. We said that they need families who are centered on Christ. Families are being attacked and are falling into drug use, violence, dropping out of school, etc and that can't happen. We said parents need to be closer to their children, children closer to their parents, and that the parents and the children need to grow closer to God. He loved it and said we can come back to his home anytime that we want. He said, "After leaving your own countries just to walk in the sun and teach people about Christ? You young men must have something special." We are going back tonight to teach him the Restoration. =)
We then spent most of the week walking in the sun, but that was a great way to start the week haha. We then went throughout the rest of the week just trying to build the area. It's a little hard with my companion because he has more time than me in the mission, but I'm the senior companion. So what happens, is that I'm trying to respect his time as a missionary and follow his lead (since he knows the area), but he is trying to follow me because I'm the senior companion. So what ends up happening, is we just kind of go in circles. Sometimes it is litterally in circles because he doesn't know our area that well, so we lose a lot of time getting lost. I think this week will be better, and am excited to just keep working =)
We had a really funny experience on Saturday night because there were two guys out side of our apartment complex who were drinking a lot and listening to music. It was really funny because they started listening to songs like Funky Town, Girls just wanna have fun, and Stayin' alive. It was even better when they started dancing! We were rolling on the ground because of how hard we were laughing.
We had another experience in church on Sunday that had another old school feel to it. As we got there, a huge storm blew in. The rain was blowing sideways because of the strength of the wind! Then the power went out for our entire Sacrament Meeting. We just kept going in the dark and without a mic haha. It was pretty fun to do =)
I also got to read a 10-page presentation given by Elder Bednar at the New Mission President training seminar! President Castro sent it all to us and it was awesome! I learned so much about how important it is to follow the Spirit in our work! He said that many times, we just get too used to how things are done, so when we need to change, we don't want to. He asked very clearly, "Are you going to do what you've always done or are you going to do what the Lord wants you to do?" Then saying, "If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always gotten." I am going to use it in my training tomorrow in District Meeting and am using tit to help my own work as a missionary!
As to boating down the amazon, we didn't do that again =p but are going fishing next week I think! There are some really big snakes in the river, and crocs too, but we only saw them from far away...just kidding! Haha. We did see the dolphins though! I tried to take a video of them, but I think I was too slow. It was really cool to see them!
Thanks for the pics! When you said you were sending it to "You both" I was like, "Is she sending pics to Sierra too?" Then I saw Sarah's name in the list next to mine and it made sense haha. Sucks that Gordon lost, but I'm glad the Jazz beat the Cavs! How are the Cavs looking with Lebron now? Did Cleavland like having him back?
Love you all! I hope the 6 weeks goes by fast, but at the same time I don't! They might go by a little slow though because people already have Christmas lights, trees, and other decorations up here haha. They are really excited about it. I guess that's what happens when you don't have Thanksgiving.
Love you guys! Talk to you next week!
Elder Sanderson
****HE SENT US A PS ******
Yes! I got to Manaus just in time!!! We have Elder Aidukaitis of the 70 coming to visit us this week!!! I just found out about it! Everybody in Manaus is going to get together for it! They said we have to study diligence and chapter 8 of Preach my Gospel (using your time wisely). I can't wait for this! =D It's like Christmas as a missionary haha
Love you guys!
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