IJUI

Hey guys,
I´m sure that my email last week was pretty scatter brained. I´m in a city called ijuí a few hours outside of Santa Maria. It´s a new area that I´m opening with my Tranier-Companion. I don´t have the camera with me right now and I wouldn´t have the time to upload pictures today. Next week though, for sure. The package that you sent to the mission home was there waiting for me. Everything is in good shape.
I´m keeping track of specifics in my journal but I´ll try and catch you up on things. We´ve taught many lessons to a lot of different people. From the first week we met a woman named Ondina (Think On-gene-ah) and we have a baptismal date marked for her. She´s a sweet woman but she needs to study the Book of Mormon and grow a stronger testimony. Our lessons with her are going fine but they need an extra push over the cliff with her commitments and effort. Then there´s Diceou. He´s a cool guy with a good heart. He works on computers and has a lot of guitars. We feel good about this investigator and we´ll see how it goes. We taught a young woman named Raissa. She´s a GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR! We´ve only had one lesson with her but we feel good about her and she has said she´s searching for truth. We bumped into her mother last night and we feel like she could have a great interest in the gospel. We´re going to teach her and her husband (they aren´t usually home with their daughter during contact time). Probably the family with the most progression right now is the family of Rafiel and Inez. We´ve invited them to study and pray about the Book of Mormon. We return soon and we think things will go well.
Yesterday was a very special sunday. I felt the spirit so strongly in the chapel. A baby was being blessed and it was very sweet. During the sacrement I probably had one of my closer experiences with the Savior in my life.
I don´t know much when it comes to the language but since last week I´ve learned so much. I´m understanding so much. Especially during the lessons when it´s about gospel topics,discussions and questions. I still need to work very hard with some basics and conjugations. I can feel the "Dom de Linguas" (they call it the Gift of Languages) working in my life very strongly. Every day I have a great capacity for the language and some special times I can actually hear the spirit telling me some of the words people say. It´s like the English is transposed over the Portuguese some special times.
I know that already I´m a much more humble, organized, spiritually centered, driven person after just these two weeks of growth. I still have a lot of growing to do but I´m happy. It´s difficult out here but I can´t help but feel happy and that I have a STRONG connection to Heavenly Father.   The Church is true and I´m thankful that the Lord chose for me to come forth at this time to serve here and build up the church.  My mission president said I was preappointed to come here and that I´m the future.  Morning, Noon, and Night, (at least) I fall to my knees in prayer and pour out my heart to Heavenly Father.  He, the Savior, His Angels and Adam help me grow every single day.
Esta Semana foi muito especial. Nos temos muitos pesquisadores com fé e potencial. I estou crescendo em fé e qualquer outra maneiras. Boa Sorte! [Translation in Google: This week was very special.  We have many investigators with faith and potential.  I am growing in faith and many other ways.  Good Luck!]