"Portenglish"

New Companion: Elder Bair and me

Hi Everybody!

How was your week? I hope it was fantastic! Mine was a BIG change with plenty of ups and downs, as usual. It did however,  end on a high note with a great Sunday and that’s what counts! 

So this week was the start of a new transfer! My new companion is Elder Bair! An American! He is from Quincy, Illinois and is the youngest of 5 kids and already has a ton of nieces and nephews. He has one year and one month on his mission. Elder Bair really is a nice kid. He is also a lot quieter than me but he is a good missionary, a really good missionary. We have been working well together this week and I hope it can continue.

I have to say it is really rather strange being with an American 24/7 after 7 months of being with no Americans. It is a big change. We almost always speak Portuguese but sometimes I can say a sentence of “Portenglish”, half in English and half in Portuguese but sometimes I can say a sentence of Portuguese, and Elder Bair understands. Haha! It is pretty funny and I like it. I am still getting used to the American thing, which is ironic because I am one! 

Wednesday night we went to go visit Marcos. He and Kaique were scheduled to be confirmed on Sunday so we wanted to talk more to him about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. The lesson was really special. The coolest part was when we talked to Marcos about his baptism. We were talking about the special spirit and he said, "I really cannot describe that feeling. It was more than special." It was really cool because then we taught how that more than special feeling can always be with him if he stays worthy of it. It made him really excited and he wanted Sunday to come fast. 

Friday night I learned something. Elder Bair and I were looking for an inactive member that we had on our list with their addresses listed. The trouble with that here is that all the numbers on the houses have no order, no sequence. So three houses right next to each other will be something like this; the first number 53, the next 714, and the next 389. We have to walk the whole street to find the house. We were looking for this certain number and couldn't find it. We felt that we should knock on all the houses without a number, a lot didn't have them. We knocked on one and this man, 25ish, with tattooed arms, earrings, and a man-bun answered. Immediately, in my head I thought, "ah dangit! He won't want to listen." Man was I wrong! The guy, Jose, was awesome! He helped us with the info we needed and then asked a ton of questions about the church. We didn't teach him right then but he said to come back next week. I learned that I judge really quickly. I felt bad. We NEVER know who will be interested but everyday we judge a ton of people. It was a good reminder to me to not judge. 

Sunday like usual, was the best day of the week. Everything worked out and Kaique and Marcos were both confirmed members of the Church and blessed with the Gift of the Holy Ghost! I was really happy and they will receive the Priesthood soon. 

We also had 4 investigators at church, so that was awesome. Maria Gabriella has disappeared lately but we are scheduled to meet with her on Wednesday. 

Our lunch Sunday at one of the members was really good too so that was a plus J. And then on Sunday night we were searching for yet another inactive member in a part of our area I have really never worked in before. Again, after a lot of looking, we could not find the house. We knocked on a door with a number close to what were looking for. This older man answered and instantly was very nice and tried to help. We talked and asked if we could share our message with him. He invited us in. Only him and his wife live there but they have a ton of grandkids already. We instantly clicked with them and started to teach the Restoration. I got to tell the story of the First Vision and something that usually doesn't happen to me, happened. The Spirit was so so so strong which is normal, but I got emotional sharing the First Vision, that is not normal for me. I can't explain how awesome it was. 

Earlier this week Elder Bair was asking me what I wanted to do this transfer. Like if there was something I always wanted to do on my mission but hadn’t yet. My answer was that I wanted to baptize a whole family, like mom, dad, kids, etc. He said that he too hadn't done that on the mission and he wanted to as well, so that is one of the goals we made together. Sunday night we might've met the family! After we left the home where we met the older couple, we followed their advice to cross the avenue to where the street continued on. We hadn’t noticed that part of the street  yet so we started to walk, still looking for the inactive member’s address. We began our search for the address we had but I felt like we should go back to the other street.  We had already walked the entire street twice I felt like we needed to walk it again. So, we crossed the big avenue again and went back. We were knocking on all the doors with numbers near what we were looking for, 33. I saw house #335 so I knocked. This man answered and again instantly was very open and talkative. He lived there with his wife and 3 kids ages 12, 8, and 4. Both him and the two older kids who came to the door to talk to us, were really interested in the church. We marked for Tuesday night to go back and teach them all. Elder Bair and I both felt really happy and good as we left. It is really promising and I'm so excited!! 

It was definitely a GREAT day to end the week! 

I love my mission, I love this gospel, and I love you all!! Have a great week everyone! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Our new District at District Meeting