Wesley...he's not who you think he is...and It's ELDER LINDSEY"S BIRTHDAY!

Well I will start this letter with Wesley. Who is Wesley? He was our upstairs neighbor, and considering the fact that like all missionaries we live on the top floor, he lived in the attic, and liked to keep us awake at night! Him, his wife and his children were really annoying. Oh, they were also gambas. (or in English skunks). Yes we had a family of skunks in our attic, and we called the bombeiros to come get rid of them. So no more skunks in the ceiling.Also it gets really foggy here in Brasil, and it rains a lot so everything tends to be wet most of the time.

So this week has been pretty good. We have had a lot more lessons with members, and we have started working with two less active members.
One of the youth in the ala has been bringing a friend to church who has started taking the lessons, and has committed to baptism (October 12)
Please pray for these investagators, as they have problems or doubts keeping them from being baptized:
Claudir has stopped drinking, but still has some problems with smoking.
Ricardo has also stopped drinking, but we havent been able to contact him, except seeing through some of his friends.
Pedro e Anezia are doing well, we aren't completely sure why they don't want to be baptized, but we are working hard with them.

On Friday we went and helped a member build a house. As in-- they were building the house we were hauling 20 kg bags of concrete, about two tons of rocks, and nearly a thousand bricks up seventy stairs. (about the first 10 times I ran, but after about 30 we all walked slowly up the stairs) Yeah we were exhausted, sore, and we've slept really well since.

The Lord watches his missionaries. I know that I have seen God taking care of us, and that he takes care of you.
This next week is GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! And my BIRTHDAY!!! (if you want to send something send reeses or candy)
"if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God"
Elder Lindsey
Moroni 8 3
I love you all.

Here are some pictures!

First, the district in the MTC

Second, his trainier

Third, his area

Crazy Week

So this week Elder Cordiero was sick, and it was really bad, so we spent the day in the hospital. By the way the hospitals here are nothing like hospitals in America! We had to wait for about an hour (and we were in one of the better hospitals, apparently its usually more like four hours).  Elder Cordiero is feeling a lot better right now, so hopefully this week will be a little better.

It rained a lot this last week. The streets turn into rivers and everything gets soaked. It's also been pretty cool (it's about 15 right now.)

We had an emergency transfer, so Elder Silvestre is now in Juiz de Fora, and we are currently waiting for our new Elder. 

We have a few good investigators, but they all need to stop smoking. Yesterday, we went to go pick up Claudir and bring him to church, but on the way to church he backed down.

 Pedro and Anezia don't often come to church, but they have been investigators for a while, and they got married, but Anezia is having problems with the word of wisdom. We haven't seen Ricardo this week, but we think it was because he was with his family (he has been separated from his wife because of his drinking and smoking, so we are hopeful)

Tomorrow we have an appointment with a friend of a member, who has gone to several activities, and has expressed interest in getting baptized.

My Português is improving and I can understand a lot more, and can usually get my point across. My accent is still awful, and I imagine that it will be for quite a while.

The other Elders in our ward had a baptism this week, which was really exciting.

The food here is really good, and the members basically force you to take two plates weather you want to or not. 

When ye are in the service of your fellow men ye are only in the service of your God

I love you all, and pray for you

Elder Lindsey

Missionary Work is Awesome

Seriously, missionary work is awesome! It's hard, and there are a lot of challenges (like sore feet).  But then there is that one moment, when your investigator sees you across the street, and calls your name, then comes and talks to you....it  is totally worth it! Also members love missionaries! Every time we pass the house of Sister Cesar and she sees us she invites us in, gives us a drink and a snack.

We have 12 new pesquisadores (investigators) this week. They are all amazing! Please pray for Claudia, and Ricardo, they both know the church is true, but they just need to stop smoking and drinking. They are by far our investigators with the most potential, and the other day they invited over two of their friends to have us teach them.
The people here are so humble, they have so little, and they love the Lord. We have taught people who live at the end of dirt roads, in houses I cannot stand up in, and some men who live under a bridge. At times when we talk to people on the street they start talking to us about their faith, and how they believe in Christ. The people here are trying to find Christ but don't know where.

The other day I was walking along a clear stream, when i noticed that it had turned brown, i looked back and saw a small trickle of filthy water had joined this much larger clear stream and had been polluted by a small bit of filth.

We walk a lot here. A lot of hills!! One of the pictures that I hope sends shows the terrain we are walking through all day.
Also pray for Vanhia and Eduardo. We set a baptismal date with them, but haven't been able to get in contact with them since.
The work is going great!  I am starting to be able to understand the majority of what people say. The members here love the missionaries, we can barely pass a members house without them stopping us and offering us a drink.
Moroni 7 (I think its verse 21 and 22 but it might not be, but it talks about faith.) Basically read everything Moroni wrote. :)
With all my love
Elder Lindsey
P.s. dont ever drop a meal appointment with the missionaries (you never know when they will be fasting)
PPS i tried to send pictures but they wouldnt load so maybe next time

First Area: Rua Coronel Viega (Petropolis) Lots of hills!!!

Well this is it. The work is hard, but the Atonement wasn’t easy, and the path to salvation isn’t easy.

The last week at the CTM was pretty normal. The last day was 10 hours of orientation that I learned very little from.

We woke up at about 2 to get to the airport and fly to Rio, and we could just barely make out Christo o Redentor from the road. We went to the mission office, had lunch, and learned everything we were supposed to learn in the orientation.

 We stayed with the APs then the next day we got assigned our areas, and got our trainers. My trainers name is Elder Cordeiro, and I am in a suburb of Petropolis (it’s in the south east of the mission and in the state of Rio, so everyone speaks Portuguese here.) My area is 5 wards that are basically a hill or two and also the valley in between them (except for indepencia which is our only somewhat level ward) The hills here are really steep, imagine the Lehi dip, but five plus times the size of that hill. Yeah huge and steep, and we walk up and down them all day.

Yeah my feet hurt.

Our first day was awful!  We are in a new area, so we don’t have investigators and we only had 1 lesson. And it was raining all day. The second day was better, we had several lessons!  In one of them the Spirit was so strong almost everyone was crying (and Brasileiros don’t show emotion that often). We got two baptismal dates, and 3 investigators. (Who live at the top of the biggest hill in our area at the end of a little tiny dirt foot path that we have to cross a stream to get to).

Saturday and Sunday nothing huge happened, except we have another investigator (who lives just a little bit from the top of São Paulo).

God blesses his missionaries. We get to see blessings daily, and there are many miracles. For example on Thursday when it was raining we would just stepped under a roof and the rain would go from a drizzle to pouring! And then as we are leaving it would return to a drizzle. 

There are so many dogs here, and every time I see one I think of Blaze, and I just want to pet it and play with it. 

The other day we were walking through the city and there were some horses just chillin’ outside of some house with some cãos (dogs) barking at it.

My companion and I are starting to be able to understand each other and we teach each other our languages. I am getting to the point where I can say just about anything I want to (even if I sound like a 3 year old). I still find a lot of people hard to understand (some are really easy and I can understand every word, but there are others that I can barely understand anything. 

I am learning a lot about teaching, and am getting pretty good at contacts and the baptismal challenge, I still struggle to speak, but the point gets across. 

The locals can’t pronounce my name, so they all say Elder Lindsh, or Elder Lindish.

I love you all.

Stay firm in the faith that our reunion may be like that of Alma and the sons of Mosiah.

I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that we have a father in heaven who loves us and blesses us. I know that Christ atoned for our sins, and that if we have faith in him, repent, are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost and endure to the end, we can repent and be saved. I testify that Joseph Smith restored the Church of Jesus Christ, again on the earth. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Gods church on the earth today. God loves you. He watches over you.

-Love Elder Lindsey

He arrived in his mission!

Elder Lindsey first day in Juiz De Fora mission!