Day 336

One more week gone with the wind. Mostly rain, actually. But working with Elder Gondin is awesome. He's finishing his mission in these next few months and already stayed in this area about a year ago. So we're finding people who the next missionaries forgot about or didn't have records in the area book, etc.

We had 5 investigators visiting during sacrament meeting. We did a lot of walking in the morning to pick everyone up but just two ended up going, the rest were thanks to member-missionaries. Thanks to them we've never had a week without investigators at church in Tancredo Neves.

For example, Paula (baptized 2 weeks ago) brought her son, Jean and his wife Teresa to church. They already seem to have a strong Christian upbringing. He even bore his testimony about the gospel and how it helped him escape alcoholism during quorum meeting. They don't live here but are visiting until February, and will return to Salto de Jacuí, a small town (smaller than Itaqui, my first area) closer to Ijuí (second area). And according to what I've heard, the church doesn't have a branch there. But I still feel like we can teach them everything we can here. The missionaries there could get permission to go there the same way we have authorization to go to São Pedro, a town about an hour from here.

When Paula and her family were baptized, I had the impression that in Santa Maria, there must have been other American Indians who are members of the church. But it turns out that in all these decades of missionaries here, that family is the first! So we have a very unique opportunity and responsibility to open the work with that population here in the South.

It started with being in the right place in the right time, and a simple invitation. Imagine how many people are just waiting for that moment. It's getting closer!

I'm happy, keeping busy.

Love,

Spencer