Elder Helvey: Beira Rio Week 12

What a great week it was this week! It started out great on Tuesday and it just got better. On Tuesday, it was Elder Bini and me here in our area. We had a few planned appointments with some of the people we are teaching, but a lot of the day was spent contacting people on the street. We visited one of the families we have been teaching, Gonzaga, Francisca, Thayna, and Ruan. They are a great family and love it when we visit them. It´s an interesting story how we got in contact with this family. We visited a boy, Vitor, that came to our English Class once, and then from him we met his cousin, Robinson, so we visited his house, and then when we were visiting him one day, Thayna was there and another day we visited her and met her family. Tuesday, we also visited Marcelo (18 years-old), who came to church last week. We met his brother, Michael, who lives with him. He was super excited because he told us that he had been searching and praying to know the truth. The next day when we visited him we shared the message of the Restoration and when we invited him to pray to know if it´s true he said he already knew it was because of the feelings he had. It was awesome! They both have baptismal dates for August 31st.

Wednesday, we had our Zone Training, so Elder Bini and I gave a training for the 26 missionaries in our Zone. It was about how we can prepare the people we are teaching for baptism and to help them gain a testimony so they will stay active in the church and prepare to enter the Temple. I thought it went really well and I always love to be together with missionaries in settings like these. Elder Allen and Elder Lopes (the Assistants) visited for the training so it was great to see them and get to spend time with them. Then after the meeting we did a companion exchange and I spent the day working in my area with Elder Toffoletto. It was a great day spent with him. He is from São Paulo and has always been one of my friends on the mission because he was trained by Elder Allen in Canindé. We did a ton of contacts and were able to meet a lot of people who were interested. We met a man named Igor who saw us in front of his house talking to his neighbor and he wanted to hear what we had to say. We taught them both and Igor has a wife and 3 kids and is SUPER excited about the Gospel and the church. He and his wife are super nice and I am super excited to see the progress of their family. It was a great day spent with Elder Toffoletto and I am also excited to see him continue to progress on the mission. He also wants to go to BYU after the mission so that would be cool.

Thursday it was Elder Bini and I back in our area and we had a normal day visiting people in their houses and talking to more people on the street.

Friday was the BOMB because guess who came to my area to do a companion exchange with me? Elder Allen! We met them at the Bus Terminal (which is pretty big, by the way, and I don´t think I have ever talked about it, but I go there about 2 times a week). Anyway, we met them there and Elder Allen and I went back to my area where we spent the day. This is Elder Allen´s last week and I can´t believe his mission is coming to an end but it was great to spend the day with him. We visited a few of the families and people we are teaching and it was so awesome to teach again with Elder Allen (it´s been quite awhile since we were companions). It was definitely one of the best days of my mission. I am sad that he will not be here on the mission any longer but 2 years is 2 years and I am excited for him to get back home and I´ll for sure see him at BYU. He has helped me a ton on my mission and I will always be grateful for the impact he had on my mission.

Saturday we taught our weekly English Class at 10 in the morning, and received money for lunch so we made hamburgers at our house. It was great! After lunch we left, and walked the streets and visited people in the hot sun of Ceará! But it´s all good, because I am used to it and that´s what we do every day. When it hits about 5 o´clock it´s not too bad but before then it´s pretty hard to stay in the street and so we always try to plan really well to have people to teach especially during those hours. But it´s also the time that most people are sleeping so we often are waking people up. But one thing about here, is that the people are awesome. They are really so loving and kind, and since it is so hot in the streets they will always let you in and give you water to drink. I often think about how lucky and blessed I am to be serving here. If you ask me, Missão Brasil Fortaleza é o melhor missão do mundo!

Anyway, Sunday was great as always. We had one of our families visit the church and two other individuals. I really love the ward and the members here. They are so good at making the visitors feel welcomed. As soon as we arrived with visitors, each of them had a member with them that would stay with them until the end of the 3 church meetings. It is so great to receive help from them and to make the people visiting feel so welcomed. Sunday afternoon we had our weekly meeting with our Ward Mission Leader, who is a new convert, and then the meeting with the Bishop and other Priesthood Leaders. Once we got home on Sunday night I made panckaes and us four missionaries just hung out talking and eating pancakes with nutella and jam. It was a great way to end an awesome week!

This week is the last week of the transfer so it will be interesting to see if I stay or not. I hope I get to stay at least one more transfer but of course I will be happy to do whatever the Lord has planned.

Thank you all for the support and love and hope all is going well for each one of you. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Helvey