Day 203
New travel plans. Tomorrow I'm off for Ijuí, a city twice as large as Itaqui. It's five hours by bus. Elder Silva has been great. He's probably one of the largest fanatics for trading in Southern Brasil. But he mostly wants ties, so he mostly tries with the other two at home.
Trading stuff is huge in Brazil, and there's a universally known Facebook page called "FaceBrique" (brique = trade).
Here's some photos:
Irmã Neusa. She was baptized three weeks ago on Sunday after sacrament meeting, and confirmed a member the next Sunday. She's what we know as the "elect of the Lord", and has helped kept the missionaries fed with bread and sweets.
Irmã Iraci, a recent convert that we've gotten to know very well. What she likes most is conversation. And she's an expert. If you don't stop her she might go on for an hour. At times it puts our schedule under stress but at the same time it's just nice to talk.
Itaqui traffic at it's heaviest.
My new companion will be Elder Lira. I know nothing else beside his name, but I'm excited to move on to a new city.
After a year on the mission, Elder Silva will be staying in Itaqui for at least one more transfer to train a new (probably) American. I know he's ready.
This Sunday was testimony meeting. All of the missionaries, one by one, got up to bear theirs. I made sure to thank everyone there for having pretended to understand me even when nothing I said made any sense! In the first few months at times it's nice to hear "your Portuguese is really good" when you already know it's not.
There are no Brasilians arriving on the mission this transfer. Whether from Mexico, Uruguay, or the US, chances are that none of them will speak much Portuguese. They do speak the same language of the spirit; just a testimony goes a long way at the very start (when you don't have anything more).
Itaqui has been great. I've already seen how much Itaqui has grown as a branch. With some more time it'll be a ward.
By the way, check out the number above, already 200 days are history. Time well spent, I think.
Until next week,
Elder Hopkinson
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