Time flies when you're having FUN!!!

HAPPY EASTER! This is a GIANT Easter Egg from the Bishop and his wife.
These are a HUGE thing here. They are huge and all chocolate

Hi Everyone, 

How was your guys' week!? I hope it was fantastic!! Ours was good and fun, which isn't a surprise because when you are serving the Lord with the right attitude, everything should be fun!! It's already halfway thru April and I can't believe it. Like I was saying, time flies when you are faving FUN!

Last Monday night we went and visited Andreza and Estefany. They are those 2 girls who are neighbors of a member and are our investigators. We went and taught about "O Livro de Mormon," the Book of Mormon. Sunday we decided to ask another young woman in our ward, Julia, if she wanted to come visit them with us. Before I could even finish asking her Julia excitedly said "YESS I can go!" She was baptized with her mom and her grandma about a year and a half ago. So last Monday we swung by her house and then headed off to teach the girls. It was really cool to see Julia so excited to teach with us, and how she connected way better than us with the girls, haha! She already wants to serve a mission and did great in the lesson! Andreza and Estefany loved Julia and the lesson too. They committed to reading the Book of Mormon which was awesome! 

Tuesday night was cool too. We went to teach Simone and Ronaldo. They are a married couple with an almost 2 year old daughter. Simone is the sister of our Ward Mission Leader. He introduced us to them last week and Tuesday we went back to teach the first lesson. While we were there I had the thought, like I have so many times before out here, "Wow, I can't believe they let us in." They had briefly met us one time before but totally were accepting of us. The lesson was so Spirit-filled and they loved it. I don't know why the Ward Mission Leader has waited to give this reference to the missionaries but everything happens in God's time and I'm good with this timing! :-)

Wednesday night was WAY cool. Up until that point we had been teaching Andreza at Irmã Nilza's house, a member. Wednesday night we decided to go to Andreza's house to meet her family. We planned to teach the Plan of Salvation for them. We got there and met her mom and step-dad and little brother. When we asked them to stay there for the lesson they all politely declined, saying they had other things to do. So they all left the living room haha. I was kind of sad because I wanted them to hear our message about eternal families. But they left so we started the lesson with Andreza. During the entire time it was really cool to see how the family started to come back. One by one throughout the lesson they came back to the room and started to listen and participate. By the end we all were back together again and they understood and thought the Plan of Salvation and Eternal Families was so cool! That night we also learned that Andreza's mom used to babysit and take care of our Bishop's youngest daughter!! So she like totally knows that family. I thought it was very awesome. 

Thursday night we went back and this time invited our Bishop and his wife to join us since they know the lady. They came and it was great. We taught the Restoration because of the parents who had never heard it. It was so cool to see Andreza following along in her head as she remembered it all. The best part was towards the end when Bishop Guerra testified that the teachings of our church are true! He said , " This church has ALL the truth”! It was the best. He just said it how it is. 

Thursday night we also went and taught Simone and Ronaldo. This time we took some of their neighbors with us, who happen to be members, Elizangela and Marcos! We took them to just get to know the investigators. It was so awesome. We got there and for the first 20 minutes they all just talked and got to know each other and me and Elder Bitencourt just sat watching in awe. It's the BEST when the members help the Missionaries with the work!! 

So a funny thing happened to us this week was the water situation. So I think I have told you guys before but here in Conquista you get 3 days with water, then 3 without. The 3 days with water is like normal, unlimited, in the bathrooms, the kitchen, washing machine, etc. But the 3 days without are different. We have a water tank on the roof that fills up and that is the water we use on the 3 days without. But that water only goes to the bathrooms. So the rest of the house is without water. Sometimes on the last day without water, the tank water runs out too. So we have to take showers by bucket because we have a water tank thing out back that we fill up manually. So this week on the second morning without water, boom, water stopped. HAHA it was the WORST! So we had to bucket bath for like 3 days. It is terrible. I boil the water first so it is warm but it still is not the most fun thing to do. Just little things that I realize how blessed we are at home that we have. 

This week something that was strange for me was that I couldn't sleep for a few days! We were out walking in the sun, working all day and my body felt tired but I just couldn't sleep!! I was so hot, then couldn't get comfortable, then needed to use the bathroom. It was really strange. That has never happened to me in my life before so I was kind of annoyed. After a few nights I was fine, but I like my sleep and hope it doesn't happen again!

Anyways folks that is all I think! This week should be great! I love you guys more than you all know! The church is true and I love my mission! Have a GREAT week!!! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

GIANT wrapped chocolate Easter Eggs are a BIG thing here. 
The RS president from the Branch gave it to me. 
They still love me over there, it seems haha! :-)