Monday:
took a bus for an hour and a half to manacapuru where the elders from here met us. Elder Anderson (is from conneticut but lives about 20 seconds from the New York border) is my district leader and his companion is Elder Costa (from San Paulo). My new companion is Elder Neves who is from Fortaleza and he is amazingzing (I think that he is going to become my new favorite companion)
Tuesday:
We woke up 4:00am to go to a zone conference in Manaus. We took the bus for about 2 hours and then got to the conference and went back arriving back here at about 2:00. I had a division for Elder Anderson to show me the area and present me to the Bishop here, Bishop Silva. The ward was formed the previous sunday and everyone is super excited about baptizing and dividing the ward again.
I got back with Elder Neves and we started going out and talking with everyone and knocking doors. We made a lot of contacts and were able to run into Raylan who is a 16 year old boy. We taught him, his sister and her grandma. The grandma wasnt interested and the sister was a little but Raylan was really interested and we marked a baptismal date for him this saturday.
As we were walking back home after working, a man on a motor came up and stopped. It was Saulo, an ex-investigator from when I was in Acariquara. It was a complete miracle that he found me there and on my first day too. I almost cried from happiness to see him again. He said he would go to church.
Wenesday:
We went out and worked again! Alot, like we did a bunch of contacts and marked two more baptismal dates with Elizangela and Guilherme. Guilherme is a 9 year old boy who has gone to church varios times with his neighbor, and Elizangela is his mother. We marked for them to be baptized this sunday.
We had a young man from the ward go out with us and show us where some members live this night.
Thursday:
We went to lunch at a members house and they had a monkey! They had boughten it from a neighbor who had moved there recently. It was cool monkey and highly domesticated. After lunch the monkey clung to my back and was just staying there as I fed it watermelon. Unfortunately, the monkey decided to pee on me while it was on my back :P Luckily it didnt smell but I changed my shirts all the same. the next time that we go there Im bringing my camera.
Today we didnt do as many contacts because we had a bunch of appointments marked so we mainly went to them.
Friday:
I had a division with Elder Anderson in our area for him to show me where more members live. Anteriorly there were elders working in it but they were taken out because of lack of missionaries in other areas. So Elder Anderson had worked there a little bit but not much. Today was a good day and we walked a bunch.
Saturday:
The first day of blisters. So I hadnt been using the boots that you sent me for my birthday very often because I had another that I had gained, however I left the other boots in my last area and started working only my birthday boots. The combination of me not walking in them much with the vast size of my area left me with only a bunch of blisters which I treated. The páin slowly faded away throughout the day.
We taught Guilherme this morning and his mom wasn't home. He was interviewd that night and passed but his mother wasnt there and she didnt sign the baptismal form so he wont be baptized until next week.
Thorought the day we were able to work with member references and had a few other members present me to their friends and relatives. The race of member missionary work is more like a oven than a microwave. It takes a bit of time to heat up and get good investigators progressing.
This night while guilherme was being interviewed by elder anderson i went with Elder costa to find elizete ( a woman that I baptized in february) and some of Saulos brothers. So they werent home but as we went to
meet elder anderson I ran into Irmã Elizete and she was very excited to see me again. She had been inactive for a while. I had ran into one of here other sons who I know earlier that day and I as able to see him again then. All of them said they´d go to church.
Sunday:
We went to get investigators to church and only one came but it turns out that she has members of her family who are members. We are currently meeting in a rented space above a bank because they are reforming the chapel to fit two wards now.
I taught gospel principles which was fun. After church and some meetings that we had I visitied Aryton (I dont know if you remember the story of him and his ex-wife separating). So he has a new wife now and wants to get married and has all the documents. So now im going to be marrying three couples who I taught one year ago (since it is now one year since I arrived in Manaus) and we are going to baptize them. Im eccstatic.
I truly felt the Lords hand over my life this last week and I know that he is watching over me and helping with with this new responsibility.
Love,
Elder Eric Olsen.
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