Oi Gente!‏

What’s up everyone!!!

This week has been super awesome!  Had lots of good things happen.

To start,  i did a division with a new American in my zone and we stayed in my area and it was nice to be able to hang out with him and teach him some stuff.  We marked a baptism for that guy Oelton who we met a few weeks back which was awesome.  He went to church yesterday with us and liked it a lot.  It was cool because when we taught him the night we marked his baptism we found out he smokes about a pack a day so we taught him the word of wisdom and he accepted and the next day we went back and he had only smoked 2 that entire day which is a really good improvement so were really happy about his progress and he really likes the church.  I like going over there and teaching him.  He’s a really cool guy. So we marked him for this Saturday.  We got some other investigators who are really cool and have a lot of potential to be baptized this month so we got to work close and hard with them. 

We did a little service project for a member and helped him paint the inside of his house and a little on the outside.  I had no idea what we were in for....we ended painting there for 7 hours and by the time we finished, we were covered in white paint!  It was crazy.  It was so messy!  Because the stuff we put on before is called Car which i guess is like a primer or something and we had to put it on the ceiling which was tough.  But it was nice to get that one over with haha. 

We also had a Christmas zone conference where half the mission goes on one day and the other half goes on the other day.  We went on Friday and it was super awesome!  We got there and the President and his wife talked for a while up til lunch then we ate A TON!  I had a mountain of food on my plate but it was fun to be able to see past companions and friends.  I talked a lot with My last comp from Jardim Atlântico Elder Trindade because he’s leaving at the end of this transfer.  So that might be the last time i may see him which sucks!  He’s so awesome!  I told him he should stay another year with me but i doubt he will.  But after the conference all of the missionaries and president and his wife went to the Recife Temple where we all sang Xmas songs for a group of people which was super fun haha.  It was nice to feel a little bit of the Christmas spirit.  Then after we went  back home and i passed out because i was so tired!  Oh and i got your Christmas package Mom!  thanks!  It was tough hauling it around all day but i was glad to have received it.  So that’s basically my week.  Oh yeah and one day we were buying some stuff at the market by our house and i was waiting outside and this car rear ended this other car and the guy who hit him got out and was stressing out then the other guy who got hit got out and went and looked at the back of his car for about 10 seconds then just gave the other guy the thumbs up and then they both took off like nothing happened....

So this week were really excited about the baptism for Oelton so were going to go over to his house everyday and make sure he’s not smoking.  I’m so stoked to skype with you guys on Christmas!  I will email you the times next Monday.  Have a good week everyone!  talk to you next Monday!  love you all! Tchau!

Elder Erickson

Me and Elder Trindade.  My brother from another mother!

Me. Elder Trindade. Elder Bateman

the result of our paint job....

3 Litters of coke. You jealous Ty???

just a pic of part of our area. i dont know if you can zoom in but its kinda cool to see the houses and how they are set up

a huge scorpion in our house!! so scary!

On the bus to conferance with a kid named Isake.

 

Oi pessoal‏

Whats up everyone! 

Just finished a pretty good week down here.  Elder Alves has been getting to know the area and we have been busy teaching people.  We have a few people that we visit a lot who are really close to baptism.  We have a baptism marked for this Saturday for a girl named Arieli who is the sister of Adalberto who we baptized a month ago so were really hoping everything works out so then we can mark his Dad for baptism also.  I like going over there and teaching them and talking.  Another guys named Aumary who we started recently teaching ( i think i talked about him last week) has been going real good.  He was baptized in the Catholic church a long time ago when he was a baby so were trying to teach him why he needs to be baptized again which is difficult sometimes but its going really good.  We went to this guys house who we contacted on the street named Oelton and we taught him a lesson and invited him to attend conferance which was yesterday and he accepted which was really cool so im stoked to go back and talk with him this week.  And theres a member who lives right next to him and we asked her if she could pick him up and take him to the bus stop where the bus will pass by to take people to  Stake conferance (because it was at a different ward)  and we told her his name and where he lived and she had this really weird look on her face and i was sort of confused and then she told us that this guy (Oelton) 2 brothers robbed her house a long time ago...but she accepted anyways which was nice of her haha.

So we had Stake Conferance yesterday which was really awesome.  We hopped on a bus that the church rented for all the members to take to the other building and got there and met up with the other missionaries and stuff.  Our mission President spoke which was cool too.  And the President of the Recife Temple and his wife and an area 70.  But during the talks there was this lady sitting about 3 rows in front of us and she was acting straight up crazy!!!  I have never seen anything like what happened.  So she had this little portable radio that she kept turning on and she was waving her hands in the air and getting up and trying to pass stuff out to other people and talking super loud to herself and people were trying to get her to be quiet and stuff for about 20 min and she wouldnt listen to anyone.  So finally when everyone stood up to sing, 3 dudes came up and like basically picked her up out of her chair and she started screaming super loud and trying to resist and they took her out of the building.  It was crazy!  I found out later that she attends one  of the wards a lot but isnt a member or anything.  It was pretty weird though.  But other than that conferance was really good!

After we went back to our area and had a super good lunch with one of the members.  Im looking forward to this week a lot!  On the 14th we have a Christmas zone conferance and a dinner and then after i think were going to go to the temple and sing or something but it should be sweet!  Im excited to see past comps and stuff.  But thats about it for this week.  Im getting anxious to skype for Christmas.  Cant believe how fast it has come.  I miss you guys!  Hope everything is going good.  Have a great week!  Talk to you all next Monday.

Love Elder Erickson

Beleza gente!

Well the transfer just came to an end yesterday.  It went by so fast!  Last night we got the call for transfers and i am staying in Lagoa Encantada and Elder Lemos got transferred.  Transfers went really good.  Everyone is always anxious to get their new comps and stuff.  But my new comps name is Elder Alves and he’s from São Paulo.  Its funny because i already knew him from my last zone so we know each other pretty well.  I’m excited to be with him though.  I’m thinking we should have a lot of success this transfer and get a lot of work done.  I feel like i know the area pretty good also so im feeling confident!

But this past week was a little slower but it was good.  We had a little more trouble finding investigators to teach because a lot of people weren’t home or were busy with something so we did a lot of walking which was a bummer but we had some good things happen as well.  Were teaching this older guy named Aumary who we contacted on the street and we have taught him twice but both the lessons have been super awesome with him.  He seems really interested in the church and is really receptive to what we teach him.  The first night we taught him we asked him to pray and he’s a little on the quiet side so i was expecting him to say no or maybe  next time but he accepted and said a prayer that blew me away!  It was a really cool experience so were going to keep working with him this week to visit the church to see what its like and stuff.  Also we had the confirmation for Ivan who we baptized the week before so his baptism is complete! 

Im looking forward a lot to this month.  We have a Christmas zone conference on the 13th which should be sweet.  Also to skype the family and stuff on Christmas!  Cant believe how fast it has come.  But this month should be super good.  More people put up Christmas lights than i thought would here.  Mostly inside their houses but its nice to see them!  This week were going to try and get more investigators to visit church again because that’s been the hardest thing with some investigators so hopefully we can help with that. 

But I’m exhausted now!  Transfers are always tiring.  But im super stoked for this transfer!  I miss and love you guys!  have a good week and thanks for all your support!  It means a ton.  Talk to you next week!

-Elder Erickson