Hey everyone! So as we all know that this week was transfers. Well I got some news for you guys. Elder Petersen and I are staying here in Póvoa!!! We are really excited about it. It’s going to be so much fun. So I also have some more info. I will stay the District Leader, but they are adding some areas to our District. I will be in charge of 10 people and three different areas. I have the biggest District in the mission. We will see how it goes haha. I’m excited.
Monday
Today we went to the mall to get a couple of things that we needed. I had to get some new pants, and Elder Petersen needed to get a new watch. Then we just relaxed and did the normal stuff we needed to do during P-day.
Tuesday
Today we had lunch with the other District. I made us all tacos. I said I because I had a really good recipe for Tacos. We ate tacos and had a good time, it was really fun. Then later today we had a lesson with Alexandre. We haven’t talked with him in a couple of days so it was good to see him. He had some good news for us. He told us that he got a job. We were so happy for him. He was so happy to tell us. He said the very first thing that he did was thank God for this. We are very proud of him and a cool thing about it is that he doesn’t work on Sundays. It’s Monday – Friday job. Then later today we had a lesson with some new people, Casmiro and Meia. They are awesome! So Casmiro has been taught by the Elders before but Meia hasn’t. We talked to them and they love listening to our message. It was a great lesson.
Wednesday
Today we had a combined District Meeting. It was a very great meeting, but it was a little hard on Elder Petersen. Recently he has been very stressed, I guess everything just built up and then he just let it out. So he and I had a very good companion talk. I made him laugh and cry some more, (tears of joy) haha. Elder Petersen is a very good missionary. He has a bright future ahead of him. We later returned to the meeting and finished it up. After the meeting we all got together and did our own little Christmas picture, it was super fun. So you guys will see it during Christmas. Then later we had our 2nd lesson with Casmiro & Meia. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. One part that was really cool is that they asked when they can be baptized after we talked about it. So they already have this desire to be baptized which is amazing. We are working really hard with them along with Alexandre. Later we had our family night which was really fun. The sisters conducted and taught that.
Thursday
This morning we went to the church to prepare for our English class. I decided that it would be good to teach them about adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Later we tried to pass by Casmiro and Meia, but they weren’t there. Then later we passed by Alexandre. We read more of the Book of Mormon with him. He really likes the stories. Then we had a lesson with a less-active but he bailed on us :( Then later we had our English class and it was really great. They really liked the lesson. They learned a lot of new things. We have about 5-9 people who come every week.
Friday
We had our Weekly planning this morning and that went pretty well. Today we had a lot of our lessons fall, but we had a really great/weird lesson with a man named Joaquim. He is an former investigator. He told us that he wants to find faith because he doesn’t believe that he has it. When we were telling him how he could get faith he kept justifying himself and said thats not how you get faith. It was interesting. He wanted something, we had it, but he would not accept it. I hate when that happens haha. It’s like just wake up and grab it right in front of your face, but he really likes us so that is good.
Saturday
Today we were going to play soccer but then it started to rain so we didn’t play. We had a lesson with Alexander today and we talked about the day of the Lord. We talked about how he was going to church and that we would talk with Bishop during church with him. Then later we had a lesson with a recent convert and his family, his name is Luis. Their family is super funny. They have a dog named Leo and he is really hyper. So Leo bites the pants of a 4 year old girl and pulls really hard and ‘pants’ the girl. It was super funny and everyone was laughing.
Sunday
This morning we had to walk to get Alexandre for church because no member could help us give him a ride to pick. We woke up early to go and get him. Well when we got there we knocked on the door and no one answered. We called and it went straight to voicemail so we thought he was either sleeping or he was already out doing something else. We were bummed about that. Then as we were coming back we tried another investigator. They too were not home which was sad, but we had a good time in church. One thing that was cool was that the sisters had made us a planner which was really nice of them. They are so awesome. We found out early that Sister Alexander will leave the area to go to a new area to train someone. We will miss her. Later after church we had another lesson with Casmiro and Meia. It was a great lesson. We talked about marriage, baptism, and smoking. They aren’t married so we are trying to help them get married. Also they smoke and want to stop so we are helping them with that. They also really want to be baptized so we have a plan for them to stop all this bad stuff to help them be prepared for baptism. Then later we had dinner at the Bishop’s house with his family. They are so fun and silly. Our Bishop is a big jokester haha. He is a great leader and can be funny at the same time. It was a great day.
So yep that was basically my week it was super fun and full of work. We are finding new people to teach who progressing which is awesome. Pretty soon we might have 4 baptisms which is great. I love my area and the work/members here are awesome. I love this work, my companion, and I love being a missionary!!! Hope you all enjoyed this week’s email. Remember to keep smiling and always have a great time. Peace out my peeps!!!
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell
Monday
Today we went to the mall to get a couple of things that we needed. I had to get some new pants, and Elder Petersen needed to get a new watch. Then we just relaxed and did the normal stuff we needed to do during P-day.
Tuesday
Today we had lunch with the other District. I made us all tacos. I said I because I had a really good recipe for Tacos. We ate tacos and had a good time, it was really fun. Then later today we had a lesson with Alexandre. We haven’t talked with him in a couple of days so it was good to see him. He had some good news for us. He told us that he got a job. We were so happy for him. He was so happy to tell us. He said the very first thing that he did was thank God for this. We are very proud of him and a cool thing about it is that he doesn’t work on Sundays. It’s Monday – Friday job. Then later today we had a lesson with some new people, Casmiro and Meia. They are awesome! So Casmiro has been taught by the Elders before but Meia hasn’t. We talked to them and they love listening to our message. It was a great lesson.
Wednesday
Today we had a combined District Meeting. It was a very great meeting, but it was a little hard on Elder Petersen. Recently he has been very stressed, I guess everything just built up and then he just let it out. So he and I had a very good companion talk. I made him laugh and cry some more, (tears of joy) haha. Elder Petersen is a very good missionary. He has a bright future ahead of him. We later returned to the meeting and finished it up. After the meeting we all got together and did our own little Christmas picture, it was super fun. So you guys will see it during Christmas. Then later we had our 2nd lesson with Casmiro & Meia. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. One part that was really cool is that they asked when they can be baptized after we talked about it. So they already have this desire to be baptized which is amazing. We are working really hard with them along with Alexandre. Later we had our family night which was really fun. The sisters conducted and taught that.
Thursday
This morning we went to the church to prepare for our English class. I decided that it would be good to teach them about adjectives, nouns, and verbs. Later we tried to pass by Casmiro and Meia, but they weren’t there. Then later we passed by Alexandre. We read more of the Book of Mormon with him. He really likes the stories. Then we had a lesson with a less-active but he bailed on us :( Then later we had our English class and it was really great. They really liked the lesson. They learned a lot of new things. We have about 5-9 people who come every week.
Friday
We had our Weekly planning this morning and that went pretty well. Today we had a lot of our lessons fall, but we had a really great/weird lesson with a man named Joaquim. He is an former investigator. He told us that he wants to find faith because he doesn’t believe that he has it. When we were telling him how he could get faith he kept justifying himself and said thats not how you get faith. It was interesting. He wanted something, we had it, but he would not accept it. I hate when that happens haha. It’s like just wake up and grab it right in front of your face, but he really likes us so that is good.
Saturday
Today we were going to play soccer but then it started to rain so we didn’t play. We had a lesson with Alexander today and we talked about the day of the Lord. We talked about how he was going to church and that we would talk with Bishop during church with him. Then later we had a lesson with a recent convert and his family, his name is Luis. Their family is super funny. They have a dog named Leo and he is really hyper. So Leo bites the pants of a 4 year old girl and pulls really hard and ‘pants’ the girl. It was super funny and everyone was laughing.
Sunday
This morning we had to walk to get Alexandre for church because no member could help us give him a ride to pick. We woke up early to go and get him. Well when we got there we knocked on the door and no one answered. We called and it went straight to voicemail so we thought he was either sleeping or he was already out doing something else. We were bummed about that. Then as we were coming back we tried another investigator. They too were not home which was sad, but we had a good time in church. One thing that was cool was that the sisters had made us a planner which was really nice of them. They are so awesome. We found out early that Sister Alexander will leave the area to go to a new area to train someone. We will miss her. Later after church we had another lesson with Casmiro and Meia. It was a great lesson. We talked about marriage, baptism, and smoking. They aren’t married so we are trying to help them get married. Also they smoke and want to stop so we are helping them with that. They also really want to be baptized so we have a plan for them to stop all this bad stuff to help them be prepared for baptism. Then later we had dinner at the Bishop’s house with his family. They are so fun and silly. Our Bishop is a big jokester haha. He is a great leader and can be funny at the same time. It was a great day.
So yep that was basically my week it was super fun and full of work. We are finding new people to teach who progressing which is awesome. Pretty soon we might have 4 baptisms which is great. I love my area and the work/members here are awesome. I love this work, my companion, and I love being a missionary!!! Hope you all enjoyed this week’s email. Remember to keep smiling and always have a great time. Peace out my peeps!!!
Com muito amor,
Elder Rusnell