Extra Extra! Read all about it! (Week #62)

Hello world!

Well I have two peices of interesting news, and I will start with the good part! This last saturday Ana Clezia and Rogerio got married and baptised!!!! They were confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting, and Rogerio is now preparing to receive the Priesthood, and their entire family is preparing to be sealed in the temple 1 Year from now!!!

Its these kinds of moments that keeps us missionaries going!

The other part of the good news is last sunday, my first area, Quixeramobim, was officially made into a Branch, and I am 90 % sure that one of my Recent Converts there, Isidio, is part of the Branch Presidency! What an exciting week!

In other news. All the Truckers here decided to go on strike because Gasoline is around 20 Reals a gallon here (imagine gas being 20$ a gallon in the US!?) But the thing is that Brasil Exports a lot of Gasoline to other contries so the Truckers wouldnt have it. They have currently barricaded the Freeway going into fortaleza, so that makes travel a little rough, and none of the gas stations here in Horizonte have gas because its too expensive for them to buy. The biggest concern is that there also is not any food shippments being made, so none of the stores can restock on supplies.

Its getting interesting!!! No need to worry, there still is Pleanty of food here, and as our Bishop said: ´´When the world cup starts everyone will just go home anyways´´ so itll all work out!
Thats about it for the week I hope you are all doing well!
Love 

Elder Ferrell

All pictures are from the wedding and Baptism of Ana Clezia and Rogerio!

They both do basically MMA, thats whey the wedding topper with the boxing gloves was a classic. Side Note: Missionaries get really truncky at weddings

What a Week! (Week #61)

Well this week was WEIRD!!

Monday night our group of 14 american missionaries went to the airport to leave for Sao Paulo. We went from Fortaleza to Natal were we caught the connecting flight to Sao Paulo. We arrive in sao paulo at about 3 AM, and from there got into a van that drove us to the police station. On the way we stopped at some place to eat breakfast that looked like the USA! But was sooo expensive! After Breakfast we arrived at the Police sation at around 7:30 and had to wait for them to open at 8. There we did everything with our visas, went to eat mcDonalds on the way to the airport, and went back to Fortaleza! It was a really fun trip actually! Nobody slept, but it was nice to pass a little bit of time with Americans, and Sao Paulo was sooo......Modern!

Then, Wednesday Elder Mortensen called me to tell me President had asked us to help out a companionship that was having problems. What happened was there was a missionary who is about to go home training a new missionary from Guatamala, and they were fighting a lot, until the New missionary called President wanting to go home. President Leite sent Elder Mortensen to their area to stay with the Elder who is finishing his misison for the week, and Elder Solares from Guatamala came here to Horizante and was my companion for the week. It was a bit difficult because with Elder Mortensen in the other city, I was following up with the zone all alone! But everything worked out. Elder Solares is a good guy and I am pretty sure he will be ok now and finish out his mission.

The other noteworthy part of the week was yesterday. I woke up with suchh a bad headache, then went to ward council and after to visit a few people, but i was getting super weak by the minute! I am not sure what it was but I was soo sick. We had to call sister Leite and she had us go home and rest in our house, then we went to sacrament meeting, and had to leave after for me to rest more and for Elder Solares to pack his suitcases! Today I am feeling much better but man it was strange!!!! 

Thats about it for the week though! Elder Mortensen is back now and this week we have the wedding of Rogeiro and Ana Clezia and they will be baptized right after! Its gonna be good!

Have a good week everyone!
Elder Ferrell

1) Road Trip!!!! (but on a plane)

2) This breakfast was 29 Reals!!!! :(

3) Lunch at McDonalds

4) Sao Paulo Airport 

After the trial of our Faith (Week #60)

Hello all! 

I hope everyone had an excellent week this last week and an awesome mothers day yesterday for all you moms out there!

My letter today will be a bit brief.

Transferes came in last night and Elder Mortensen and I are still companions which is good! Nothing change for us but we have 4 new missionaries coming into our zone!

The other peice of big news came in the form of a great miracle. Satuday afternoon I was able to skype my family which was awesome, but one of the questions in that conversation was if we had sombody getting baptised on Sunday. To better explain this moment for all, Elder Mortensen and I were hoping and praying to Baptise this last week, but we did not have an investigator progressing in the way of being ready for baptism. We had 2 that we wanted to try and see if they wanted to get baptised when the week started, but as each day passed, we tried to visit them but they were never home. So when Saturday arrived and my family asked if we had a baptism, I wasnt too sure how to respond. Especially because the only candidates we had for baptism for the week were 2 people with whom we had never talked about baptism. But even with all this, to be optimistic, and to act and show my faith a little bit, I told my family that yes, I thought we would have a baptism. 

We went out to work Saturday afternoon as usual, and once more the people we were trying to talk with were not home. However as we continued working, at around 6 PM we encountered one of these two people walking on the street. His name was Elizaldo, and to be honest he was the least possible of the 2 people we had because he had already been attending church for 8 months with his girlfriend, but many missionaries had already worked for months with him and every time was the same, He didnt want anything to do with baptism. But when we ran into him on the street, and started talking to him, he told us he was reading the Book of Mormon! When he said that Elder Mortensen and I looked at each other, and we already knew. Elder Mortensen asked why he had never been baptised and Elizaldo answered: 

´´its watever man itll be alright´´

E. M. ``itll be alright as in you want to be baptised?´´

Elizaldo: ´´Sure´´

E.M. `´When do you want to get baptised?´´

Elizaldo `` when were you thinking?´´

E.M. & E.F. in unison: ``how about tomorrow?``

Elizaldo: ``OK!``

Yesterday, God once more confirmed our Faith. Elizaldo was baptised by the Bishop here in our ward. Is Girlfriend (atually fiance now) was suuuppperrr happy and really suprised! They are planning to get married and are also now planning to be sealed together in the Fortaleza temple one year from now.

Such a blessed week!

Love you all and hope you have an excellent week!
Love, 

Elder Ferrell

 

Photos

1) Baptism of Elizaldo

2) Im holding a Parrot

3) This spider was in the Baptisimal Font at the Sisters Chapel

4) Shout out to the Fam

And the Blessings Continue! (Week #59)

Hello All!

What a wonderful week!

First off, Congradulations to my Brother T.J. for his college graduation last week! #AllGrownUp!

Second off, LAst week was truly a week of miracles here in Zona Pacajus! Elder Mortensen and I had Leadership Council on Tuesday, then we had to go back to Fortaleza on Wednesday for Zone Conference, then back once more Friday Morning to do Baptisimal Interviews for a District Leader in our Zone, so one strong theme as always for the week was tiredness, but on the mission if you arent tired from all the work and daily grind you arent doing it right! The challenge was how to manage to get all the work done in our Area for the week while losing 2 and a half days of work! But knowing that the Lord would provide a way, we managed and were truly blessed with the results!

Yesterday Wesley was baptised, and Gustavo received the Holy Ghost! These are the two biggest highlights of the day. The second biggest is we had 3 Families visit church Yesterday who are serious investigators! One of these Families was Wesley´s family. Wesley´s brother and sister were already recent converts before I arrived here, and Elder Mortensen said that their Parents had no interest whatsoever in the Gospel. But we optamisticly went to try and teach them and either they aparently had a miraculous change of heart! Starting with the first day we started teaching them they seem to litterally change in the moment after learning about every principal of the gosel. We are helping them get married on the 26th of this month, but they are more excited about their baptisms that will happen right after the wedding! A true Miracle!

Also, when I arrived in Pacajus, our Zone was not baptising at all! In some of my last letters I already mentioned that actually. That is why this last week was such a wonderful one! Our Zone had 7 people get baptised and 8 People get confirmed, and our Stake attendance went up by about 60 People!! Just shows how eager God is to pour out Blessings upon his Children!

Love you all, hope you have a good week! And happy Mothers day to all the Moms out there!

Elder Ferrell

1) Baptism of Wesley. (Wesley, Wesley´s neighbor who baptised him, and his Family)

2) Baptism from Last week of Gustavo