Ola! So i am now on week 3 or 4 depending on how you count because this is my 3rd p day but the begining of my fourth week. So im going to recap really quickly for you because a lot happened.
Monday: I sent off letters and then we deceided to visit a less active member who lives in the ward. His name is ariel and him and his wife and son live in a neighborhood in the forest. Their house reminded me of the us because it had a yard and wasnt attatched to anything other houses. But his son is studying to be a biologist and so their house is cool. They have a adolecent capybara which was cool to see. Its mother had been killed by poachers and so they brought it up and it lives in their yard. He told me some other cool stuff that youll have to wait for a letter from me to hear about so be on the watch.
Tuesday:
The trainers of me and elder walch and elder shepherd (another new american who has been out for one transfer more than me) all left for a leadership meeting that they had together and so that left the trainees (aka us) together for the day. So we went back to Elder Shepherds house and ate lunch and did some contacting which i wasnt performing my best in but its ok because im still learning. But we ended our night by visiting some members who had a cousin die the week before who i believe had down syndrome. I was able to share the story of one of my friends from school who had a sister die who had cerebral palsy and i think that it made them feel better. But we met up with our companions again at like 8 something because their bus was slow and then went home.
Wenesday:
Today wasnt the most productive that it could have been but it did have some cool parts. We went and talked to rafael the pastor who asked for a book of mormon, and i was able to speak with him about doctrines of the church and invite him to read 3rd nephi 11. It was awesome because im only on my third week in the field and was able to do that. But we also stopped by Ariels house again to talk with his son diego (the one studying to be a biologist). He had some cool kaydids that he had caught to study and i saw his collection of beetles and butterflys and it was way cool. He also brought out some pictures that he had taken in the forest and they were amazing, like something you would see in a book, but he doesnt want to sell them because its just a hobby. picture taking that is. When we went home he walked us by a pond to see if the caiman that lives there was there, and it wasnt. I dont think that i mentioned this but we get to their house by walking on a small path through the jungle and all the times that ive taken this path its been dark and i wont lie its pretty scary because we only have a cell phone flashlight to guide us but the last time we took it diego showed us the way and it was better because before i thought that there were jaguars and lots of snakes that lived in the area but he explained that there werent very many so i felt better. We started back for home when we recieved a call from a family in the ward and they asked for us to come and give blessings to them and so we did and we gave 5. I gave my first blessing in portuguese and it wasnt the best because i dont have the best grasp of the language still but it was still a good experience.
thursday
just a regular day we worked, but it wasnt very productive, but we did stop by at a ward activity and brought one of our investigators dennis, there.
friday
So today we kicked it into gear and contacted like crazy on our way to appointments and ended the day with 52 contacts which i felt was really good.
Saturday
So remember that family that we taught that i wanted for them to join the church? We went there again today and (we had gone there once before this week and just answered questions that the father had) were planning to teach an awesome lesson on the plan of salvation, and instead the father gave us papers saying that mormons werent christians and then played a video about inferno. It made me really sad to know that people chose not to believe and i just felt bad for the kids that were there. I prayed that the children would accept the gospel later in life and i got the impression that they would remember us for a long time and that they would accept. When the video ended we bore our testimonies and left. We would have left in the middle but we thought the video would be short and didnt want to be rude, looking back on it now we should have just left during the middle of it. But the lord blessed us because right after this we went to a less active family and talked with them and the father said that he wanted to have us baptize his son and then one of our investigators recognized that there was something different about us and he liked being around us because he could sense this and so it was really good.
sunday
We went to church and had to leave halfway through because we found out that we had a baptism for a member right after church and so we ran home grabbed my baptismal clothes then ran back. Right after church i got to baptize julho caesar da costa brito, and it was really cool. I thought that i would not remember the prayer or say something wrong because i started memorizing it during church but it was good. We had a great lunch at a members house and we recieve lunch from members everyday but pday and dont usually eat dinner since lunch is the biggest meal of the day here. In our priesthood lesson we were challenged to write a letter to our family using 15 words or less before we left them for 2 years and so youll be recieving mine soon.
im not sending letters this week because i have no money because we had to pay a huge electricity bill this month but expect letters next week. Im still homesick but its getting better and i have found much strength in the letter that you sent me dad,
I love you all and please pray for me because i need the help,
love
Elder Olsen
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