71th Week Out, Week 2 Pacatuba, "Helping Others to feel the Spirit"

 Dear Family and Friends This week Elder Ehms and I are getting more used to the Area here as we only showed up here a week ago. We created a LIFE-SIZE map thats even divided in color for Bairro( I forget what word that is in English)  to help us and all future missionaries that will pass by in this area! We had 2 baptisms this Sunday! one was for a man named Marcos, he is 23 years old, and man this man was literally prepared for us, turns out there had been many missionaries that had passed by in his house years ago, he never was baptized.  There wasn't any record for him recorded in our are book. We found him in the house of another investigator we were leaving and he showed up and we asked for his address and that was pretty much it we passed by his house started to teach him and he decided within a week that he wanted to be baptized and he was! We even brought a member with us to his house so that he could create a friendship with a member and they became good friends and this member Jefferson baptized Marcos, it was his 1st baptism and will be serving a mission soon. Our other baptism was for a woman named Luana she is 18 years old. Her mom and sister were baptized a month ago but she didn't feel prepared to be baptized. Many people feel that 2 weeks is way to fast to baptize someone but this theory here in CEARA Brasil is false. Here people are very humble and open to everything you have to say even if they are from another religion, and all we have to do is help them have a spiritual experience to feel for themselves that our message is true and after that its BAPTISM because your not perfect before baptism and your not being baptized to be perfect, because you´ll never be perfect even after baptism so its not even worth trying to be perfect before baptism because it will never happen and its much harder to try without the help of the gift of the holy ghost, that we receive AFTER baptism. Once you have had a spiritual experience what more do you need? You will never know everything before baptism and not even after baptism you will know everything. Something my president told me is that we are not here to convert people to be baptized because conversion is a lifetime process, not even you yea YOU are completely converted yet,  SHOCKER. I love to know with a surety that I am on the right path that I don't have to think our doubt theres something bigger in life for me., I know that what I am doing is 100% the right choice, and that this TRULY IS the church of Jesus Christ, the ONLY yes ONLY COMPLETELY true church on the face of the ENTIRE earth! I love you all and thank you for all your love and support!

 Impressions of Pacatuba Brasil

-here in Brasil people don't just hit each other when they fight the cool thing to do here is take your sandal from your foot and slap someone with it or just throw your sandal. For example when a child of a parent is fighting, disruptive, Etc. the parent will just take their sandal from their foot and raise it in the air like a threat that their about to be slapped with a sandal and they keep quiet real quick.

70th Week Out, Week 1 Pacatuba, "This week I was transferred"

Dear Family and friends this week I  was transferred L I had to say goodbye to all my wonderful people in Mondubim... I truly loved serving there, I loved the people, and I loved my companion and it was VERY hard to leave… but Now I am In Pacatuba. I am Zone Leader again with Elder Ehms. The name of our zone is MARACANAU ( its like a stake), Pacatuba is the name of our ward. My companion is from Rio Grande De Sul. He has 1 year on the mission.  We are opening the Area here (WHITE WASHING, SHOTGUNING, whatever you may call it),  we both showed up here in Pacatuba Thursday morning, we didn’t know the Area or anyone or anything, we didn’t even have a map of our area, AND on top of it all the Elders here before us left us with a cellphone without credit! So we couldn’t even call the bishop or Ward Mission Leader or anything. But we were able to work very hard this week! We met 27 new investigators in 3 days and had 7 people at church Sunday! One man walked 40 minutes on foot to church with us! This week we should have 2 baptisms! Our area is HUGE finally! I am kind of in the interior again, man how I missed it! I left the city! I have mountains to see, dirt roads, forests and I love our area!  Remember in Juazeiro there was a Bairro (city) named Horto? Well here in Pacatuba there is also a Bairro named HORTO!!!! HECK YES this city has my name written all over it! I love my companion to! Elder Ehms is a lot like me we both are very firm with people, simple, organized, and we both like to walk very fast! (to anyone that didn’t know yet I don’t just walk around our here I like fast walk almost jog everywhere I go!) He is whiter than me and people here think he’s more American than me! HA my Portuguese is great now, and I can honestly say I’m Fluent in my Portuguese as I have been here in Brasil for a year now! I am so Happy with my life, to be here on a mission, I’m truly starting to know my savior better. I love you all and thank you for all your love and support!

IMPRESSIONS of Pacatuba Brasil

-Here in Brasil cellphone plans don’t exist, everyone buys these like sd cards of credit that they put in their phones and when the credit runs out, you have to buy more credit, its almost like all the phones here are a Burn Phone if anyone knows what that is? But we as missionaries receive 100 minutes of credit for every month. When you use it all you have to wait until the 20^th of every month to receive more credit.

69th Week Out, Week 17 Mondubim, "Sixteen recent converts attended church this week!"

This week Was another great week! we had a baptism for Fernanda, 16 years old. She is the sister to Yasmine who was baptized last week. Today transfer calls come and I don't know what is going to happen so stay tuned for next week and we will find out! I learned a good quote this week and it is that the best leaders in this world are followers. Jesus Christ was a perfect example of this as EVERYTHING he did was following his father. I know we are all followers of Jesus Christ and therefore good leaders are good followers. I Love my Mission, I love Mondubim there was16 Recent converts at church Sunday and to anyone in the mission or who served a mission knows that to be able to look around sacrament meeting and be able to see the fruits from your labor is just the best feeling! Truly to be able to share the gospel with someone else Is the thing that brings the most joy to me in my life! I love you all and thank you for all your love and support!

Impressions of Mondubim Brasil

I have never seen people who move houses, jobs, cars, motorcycles, etc so fast. like literally every week you teach a family and the next week they have switched cars and the next week the have moved to another house down the street and then you show up at their new house and they are no longer at home because they have moved jobs and their work hours have changed. YES

Baptism of 16-year-old Fernanda, Sister to Yasmine

68th Week Out, Week 16 Mondubim, "I'm now 20 years old!"

Elder Horton 20 Years Old

Dear family and friends, this week was another great week, well I'm now 20 years old! No longer a teenager! My birthday was June the 2^ndand it was a great day sister Andrews and my companion threw a surprise birthday lunch for me. On my Birthday, we also stopped by a girl named Yasmine, 19 years of age, who I hadn’t passed by for over 2 months ago when I was with Elder Crispim. My companion ever since he got here wanted to pass by and met her but I would always tell him “nah man she’s not interested with our message anymore…” But this day MY BIRTHDAY I felt prompted to pass by her, and basically this happened: she had been praying and praying this day for Heavenly Father to guide her with what she needs to do with her life and the EXACT moment she said “Amen” guess who was calling her at her front door? Elder Horton and Elder Anastacio!!! It answered her prayer, she told us she already knew before that this church was true but lacked courage to follow her answer, and heavenly father guided us to her. We invited her to be baptized that very night on my birthday! She was baptized that night! That was by far the very best gift I could have received on my birthday was to see the Joy of this young woman! 

We had 2 more Baptisms Sunday 1 was for a girl named Leticia 15 years of age she is the sister of Hebert and Leandro who were baptized last week! And on top of that the parents of Leticia, Leandro, and Hebert; Michel and Magna came to church this week with Leticia to be there for her baptism and they loved church and we sat down with them and the bishop @ church this Sunday and this family decided that they would like to get married and also be baptized as well! So now we have 3 families preparing to be married and baptized! Our 3^rd baptism was for a man named Jailson 29 years of age. He is the brother of Jean who was baptized 2 weeks ago. Jailson had a problem with smoking so we gave him a blessing that his desire to smoke would go away and We bought him a box of chocolate and we told him every time he has a desire to smoke a cigarette, eat a chocolate and he hasn’t smoked since! My Recent Convert Clayton who is preparing to serve a mission baptized Jailson! Miracles still happen and they happen because this TRULY is the church of our savior Jesus Christ! I get to see them EVERYDAY! I Love this work, the lords work not my work, and I’m simply an instrument in his hands. I know that the lord is blessing me truly. I love you all and I thank you for all your love and support!

Impressions of Mondubim Brasil

-Tile floor, tile bathroom, tile kitchen, tile bedroom, tile living room, tile art, tile wall, tile EVERYTHING!