Exciting to hear from you! Friday I went to the police station with my district and some other elders so that we could get our thumbs printed and our passports/visas verified. The police station is an enormous building with a winding staircase and FULL of people. I placed a Book of Mormon with a woman who spoke four different languages. Luckily, one of those languages was English. Her two children were there with her and it was a fantastic conversation we had. She had questions in her heart that were the questions we had answers to and she asked them just as we were about to talk to her about them. She eventually smiled and said, “ I promise I will read and pray about this beautiful book.” Then I tried teaching a Chinese man who spoke no English and very little Portuguese. He had a wide grin on his face and seemed very interested in all the missionaries running around. I think I got the point across that he should visit lds.org and order a Chinese Book of Mormon. After that I talked to a man (solely in my best Portuguese) and eventually I was teaching him in this crowded noisy building about the Restoration of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. I recited the first vision in Portuguese from memory with the Spirit strengthening the message. As I spoke the words they came out powerfully, I was trembling and I know that while I was sharing the message, it almost seemed calm and quiet in the midst of all those people. I saw in his eyes something that you don´t often enough see in people. It was the spirit working in him. I invited him to Church and I´m praying every night that these investigators can keep that same excitement about the Gospel that they had when I taught them. Street contact didn´t go as well as the police station but towards the end we prayed we could find a person who was ready for the message and we placed a Book or Mormon with a high school student. I think it went well. I´m getting better and better at Portuguese and almost forgetting how to talk in English. Okay... I still talk a lot but things are well. People are sleep walking through life and I’m going about waking them up. I’m delighted about the work.
Elder Williams from my room/district has several tubs of peanut butter and we celebrate with peanut butter and Oreos on special occasions.
I went to the temple this morning. It was a very special day. I love all of you. Give all of the family my love. I´m praying for Uncle Ric, for Tyler and for Heather often. Don’t be sad, Adam’s all around us and you can let Rick know that. I´m sure Sam was a great missionary, it´s good to hear about him. The Brazilians here are a lot of fun, we lovingly pick on each other and I know many words that aren´t necessarily bad words but are sort of mean. Ha. I´m studying the Gospel Library Often. “Our Search for Happiness” is a good book. I started the other day and am almost done. The distribution center here is awesome and very cheap. Oh. Peanut butter in a small jar is only sold at the cookie shop across the street and it´s around fifteen American dollars. BARF.
I have you in my prayers, pray for my success out here and for the comfort of the family back home.
Love always - Elder Hanson.
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