Aldeota, Brazil Week 4

Hey! Well it has been another great week here. I have stayed plenty busy from scheduling doctor appointments for missionaries and sending out letters to recent converts to going to the Policía Federal with new missionaries and figuring out all the DVD players for each house. Other things I´ve had to do is getting the list of people for the talent show (which is gonna be this week at the mission wide Christmas Devotional) ready. I also ordered a lot of materials for the mission and have been having to call Church Headquarters in Salt Lake to fix a problem in our online system. Anyways, not too exciting but it´s been good! We went out to dinner with Bruno last Monday and it was a lot of fun to go with him and get to know him better. I really like spending time with him and he was confirmed this week which was great!

This is the last week that Elder Allen will be here in the Mission Office so he has made me do things on my own a lot this week. Usually when someone calls and I don´t know the answer or something happens and I don´t know what to do I ask him and he usually takes care of it. But this week he wanted me to do things on my own and see how I do. We had two visits to the Policía Federal this week, both to register new missionaries. The second visit of the week he had me go by myself with the two new Elders. I was a little bit nervous something was gonna go wrong but everything went smoothly. This week I have to learn some things that I have to do at the end of each transfer and we are also gonna have some review sessions, like what do you do when this or that happens. There are a lot of things to do and remember but it should be good.

We are getting ready for Christmas here and getting ready to welcome in our BIG Christmas gift which is a grand total of 37 new missionaries that will arrive here in our mission next week!! It will be quite a crazy time and a lot of work here in the office but we are all very excited! My friend, Elder Larkin, who was in my MTC district and both of us went to New York together got his visa so I am excited to welcome him next week and 36 other missionaries.

Well that´s about all I have for this week! I have been reading the Book of Mormon in Portuguese as always but also have been reading the New Testament (in English), and it has been so great to really focus on the Savior´s life and his teachings. I had a great experience yesterday at a member´s house talking about how, always and especially during this time leading up to Christmas, how we can all really refocus on the Savior and his teachings and how we can all better follow his perfect example for us and use The Atonement more fully in our lives. It´s so awesome that I have this opportunity to be here in beautiful Fortaleza, Brazil helping people come closer to Christ. I love it!

I hope all is going well for everyone back home. Have a great week! Thank you all for the support and love. Until next week.

Love,

Elder Helvey

 Sunset from the Mission Office. That´s our view everyday at about 5:30PM. It´s so beautiful!

Elder Allen and I made a special trip to Burger King (which is right across the street). It was nice to feel like I was in the United States for a few minutes and enjoy a big douple whooper, free refills, and air conditioning! Of course I had to grab a Burger King Crown on the way out. This is a picture of me at my desk with my Burger King cup and crown with Elder Cassimiro in the background.

Me leaning out of one of the Mission Office windows while a picture is taken

 from another window in the office!