Elder Helvey: Beira Rio, Brazil Week 1

Here I am in my new area!! But first, Elder Zwick and I had a great last week. We were able to get a lot of work done in the office and had some awesome visits, too. We also had the ward talent show on Friday night so that was a blast! There were a lot of people there and us four Elders did something. Elder Zwick and I sang while Elder Peressute played the harmonica and Elder Vallo played the guitar. It was such a blast and it was a great activity for everyone. It was great for me to have that during my last week in Aldeota.

Yesterday, Luan was confirmed and it was so awesome. He is doing so great and loving learning more and more every day. We gave him some gifts (Bible, and books of the church) and he loves them. It has been so awesome to see how his life has changed as he has come to learn of the church and more about his Savior, Jesus Christ. He has quickly become one of my best friends and it was hard saying goodbye to him, but I´ll see him again, I know.

It was very hard to say goodbye to so many people in the ward. I served in Aldeota for 7 months so this ward and the members really have become my family. I have so many great friends and I will miss them a ton. But that´s part of the mission, and now I am excited to be in another area and to meet many new people and help them come unto Christ.

This morning Elder Zwick and I dropped two missionaries off at the airport that are going home and then we went back to the house and to the office. We walked to Luan´s house and he gave us a ride with all my bags to the transfer meeting which was about 40 minutes away, so it was so nice of him to do that. Anyway, transfer meeting was awesome today! There were so many missionaries there because so many were transferred and it was so fun seeing so many of them today. I am super excited for this transfer!!

I was called to serve as a Zone Leader in an area called Beira Rio, in the Litoral Zone. My new companion´s name is Elder Pedrosa!! Remember him? Maybe not, but he was a missionary in my first district and I did my first split with him. He has become one of my good friends on the mission and I am super excited to serve with him here. After President announced that I had been called as Zone Leader, the Assistants were reading off where everyone would go and Elder Pedrosa and I kept on looking at each other thinking maybe we would be companions. It was awesome! He is from a city a little outside of Rio de Janeiro. Our zone is the biggest in the mission (24 missionaries) and I am super excited for this opportunity!

I have only been here in the new area for a few hours but I am already loving it. It´s a lot like my first area but not as nice and has a lot more open space. At least that is what I have seen so far. I will give more details next week about how it is.

Anyway, we´ll have mission leadership council this week so I will be going back to Aldeota for the day haha. That´s it from me this week. Thank you all for the support and I hope all is going well with you all.

Until next week.

Love,

Elder Helvey