"Well I think we might be the answer..."

Zone Meeting this week. 

Hey everyone! 

How are you all doing?! This was a crazy week as it was the first week of the transfer but it was a great week of change! For me the change wasn't that big since I stayed here in São Cristovão. But now I got a new companion so that is always a change! My new companion is named Elder Loureiro! He is from Rio Grande do Sul, which is the southern most state in Brasil. He has almost exactly 3 more weeks on his mission than I do and he is actually part of the group that is going home with me! I have now been companions with 3 of the 4 that will be going home with me! Crazy right?! The other two were Elder Bitencourt and Elder Tavares. Anyway Elder Loureiro is awesome and we are getting along great! It is really a blessing to have someone with a lot of experience again! We realized that we have the opportunity to change this area and our zone because if we combine our strengths, we can make miracles happen. So we are focusing a lot on being in-sync with one another. I am excited for what this transfer has to hold! 

So last Monday I took Elder Machado to the bus station for him to go to Vitoria da Conquista and I met up with the Secretaries! Elder Machado left around 10! I was sad to see him go but i know that he has a very bright future in front of him! He is a great missionary and I learned so much as his companion! It was truly a blessing! That night I hung with the secretaries. It was tough because with the transfer they are super busy so we got to bed late and then had to wake up early the next morning! But it was a fun adventure. 

Tuesday morning Elder Loureiro got to Salvador and we headed home. We had a busy work day, organizing things at our house and trying to get a map for the house as well. A map really helps us in the areas where you serve and here we still haven't found a place that makes one. It has been tough but it looks like soon we will be able to get a map! I am excited because it is going to help us a lot, mainly when we try to find less-active members from the ward list. 

Wednesday was a great day too. After lunch we went to try and find some people who we had contacted. The person we were looking for wasn't home so we started knocking some doors on the houses close. We knocked on this one door and this lady, Cida, answered. Elder Loureiro said, "Hello, we are representatives of Jesus Christ, can we come in and leave a message?" It was funny because we were trying to see how we could use the smallest amount of words and still get in and Cida let us in! We ended up teaching her and her whole family! It was awesome! They are so cool and at the end I felt prompted to ask them a question. As we were finishing the first lesson I asked, "In these last few months, have you guys prayed to God to ask him to guide you in your lives?" They seemed a little surprised by the question but they responded yes. I replied, "Well I think that we might be the answer that God sent." It was really cool and the Spirit was very strong. They really enjoyed the lesson, now we just have to find a good time to start visiting them regularly because they all have crazy schedules! 

Thursday we had a cool experience with Marcos. He is the atheist that we have been visiting. The crazy part is that he is like one of the most sincere people ever. He really thinks about what we tell him and has great questions. Sometimes he is a little tough and frustrating because he doesn't belive in anything, but he is awesome. We went and taught him the first lesson. The other times that we have visited him we had just been answering his questions and reading the Book of Mormon. It was a great lesson and he really was interested in Joseph Smith but it was just a little weird because we were trying to teach differently. All the people we teach here believe in God so we don't have to focus on that part too much. But with Marcos it is different, it is a challenge. And I am loving it haha. And I think we might have done a little progress with Marcos. At least I hope so. We had another cool experience with him later in the week. 

Friday was a very interesting day. We were in the middle of a lesson at about 3pm and our phone rang. I looked and it was a member and then silenced the call and continued with the lesson. Then it rang again right after, I looked and it was the same person and the investigator said I could take it. So I did. The 2nd counselor of the Bishopric called and said that he needed us. He was with William. William is the young man in our ward who had left on his mission about 2 weeks ago. I was shocked and asked who he was with because I thought that I had heard wrong. But unfortunately I heard right. William had to come home form the MTC because he has some health problems that he had been told were not going to be a problem, but they started to manifest more in the MTC and for now the leaders thought it was better for him to come home to figure out what is wrong. So we left the lesson and met up with William! He was pretty sad but didn't really show it and he walked around with us during the day. That night we took him to the chapel and the Stake President showed up and talked to him. We were all really sad for him because he was so excited but it seems like he is doing good. He will get back out there soon! 

Saturday was the other cool experience with Marcos. We showed up to teach him and he was doing great. But he seemed a little off. We asked him what was up and he said that he had looked up some stuff on the internet about the church and found some stuff he did not like. We answered all his questions and had a really spiritual conversation. We kind of straight up asked him what he was wanting to get out of our visits. He said,' I don't really know. I just really like these meetings and have a curiousity to know more." Then I asked him what percent he thinks that God doesn't exist. He said "I am 99% sure that God doesn't exist." I then said, "and that extra 1%? What does it mean?" He said that he left 1 percent just to see if God really is real. SO WE GOT A CHANCE with Marcos. It is only 1%, but it's better than 0%. Haha, I don't know why but me and my companion both had a good feeling about Marcos so we will see where it goes! 

Sunday was great and church was awesome! I love Sundays! 

Well that is it! I love this work and am so happy and excited to see what the future holds! I love you all! Have an amazing week! 

#itsalltrue

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

There are 4 Americans in my zone now. Elder Archuleta,
Sister Bourdeau (her family is orignally from Haiti and my grandparents
know them from when they served their mission there), me and Elder Davis! 

My new companion Elder Loureiro