"We had TEN investigators at church!"

Visiting Israel and his family with Elder Gomes this week! 

Hey everyone! 

How are you all doing?!I hope everyone is having a fantastic week. I hope you all had as good as a week as we did! I will try to hit all the highlights but it was a lot of stuff and we are crunched on time! We came down to Porto Seguro again last night because we are going to be doing some divisions or tradeoffs, or whatever you call it in English, with the Elders here on Tuesday. So we decided to take advantage and come see the sights today of Porto Seguro. This is the city where Brasil was discovered!!! So early this morning we headed off to the historical city here and it was super pretty with amazing ocean views and a lot of cool history stuff! I love ocean views and history so I was in heaven! The problem is that the companionship photographer (AKA Elder Hilton :-) forgot his camera adaptor that uploads the photos to the computer! It isn't his fault though, haha!  Last night we had to pack up real fast and grab a bus, so in the rush he forgot it. We are still trying to find a way to send them but as of now this week won't have any pics! I will just send double pics next week! Anyway, let's go back in time and start with the beginning of last wek! 

Last Monday was good. We had a fun night. We headed over to Israel place. When we got there it was a little weird because Israel seemed really tired and no one else was there. He told us that he had just accepted us that day because he didn't want to be rude, haha! He was working overtime at his workshop right next to his house and he stopped for a little bit to have us over and to eat a small dinner. We were kind of sad because we had wanted to teach the whole family and we didn't even really get to have a lesson but it was still good to talk with him and he even took us into his work. He makes these big signs and posters for shops and it was really cool. So that was the only thing with him on Monday but it was still a good little visit.

Tuesday night we had a really cool lesson. So I can't remember if I wrote about it but last week we had this man named Jailton at church. His son is the only priest in our branch and he brought his dad. His work schedule changed and now he can go to church. His stepdaughter just left on her mission a couple months ago but he is not a member. On Sunday we marked to go see him on Tuesday. We got there at 7 o'clock and had a wonderful lesson. When we showed up they were there waiting for us and we started out by asking Jailton about his religious beliefs. We found out that back a long time ago he had taken the missionary discussions with his kids but had never been interested to be baptized. He then said that he feels kind of the same way now but we were not discouraged! We went right into the first lesson and it was great. It was cool because we got to teach the Restoration in a different style that we were going to train on at the Zone conference later in the week. And it was also really cool because his son Lucas was with us. He stayed pretty quiet the whole time but it was great. At the end of the lesson we told Jailton that he needs to pray. We invited him to read and pray about our message. I said, "Irmão Jailton we know these things are true and if you find out that they are true too, it would change your life forever." He agreed and then said he would read and pray about our message. We are just praying now that he gets his answer and that his work doesn't go back to the old schedule! 

Wednesday was an interesting day. We just had to organize a bunch of stuff to get ready for the Zone Conference that was going to happen the next day. Then we got a bus that night and found Elder Gomes, one of the Assitants! He was in a different city with President Bangerter at a different zone conference and was now traveling down to Porto Seguro to come to our Zone Conference. The bus ride from Eunápolis to Porto Seguro is just an hour so it was easy. We got to bed around midnight at the elders house in Porto Centro and it was funny because we had to fit 5 guys into a small room because it has air conditioning!!!! 

Thursday was great! We had the Zone Conference and saw our small little zone of 14 missionaries! We had a great day! Elder Hilton and I got to give a training on this thing called MRV. In our mission it means "visitas de ministrar, resgatar, e verificar." That means "visits to minister, rescue, and verify." It is the program that President Bangerter introduced to our mission when he got here 3 years ago to visit less-active and inactive members. The program keeps evolving and changing for the better and we got to talk about it. It was great and at the end we talked about the Restoration and gave a quick little practice lesson using the pamphlet, in 5 minutes. It was super awesome. That night we got a bus to go back to our area with Elder Gomes because he came to do a division with us. That night we got home and then ran over to Israel's place. We had been planning on teaching them the Plan of Salvation for a few visits but we wanted the whole family there! We had never had a lesson with the whole family present. So we finally lucked out and the whole family was there!!! Quick note, when we got there and we were eating,(they always give us dinner!) Elder Gomes was introducing himself and asking a little about them. Israel started to talk and out of nowhere goes, "...I am also a pastor *looks over to us kind of laughing* and I totally forgot to tell you two that." Me and Elder Hilton were shocked haha! It kind of made sense because he seems like the type but then he started to explain that he is not a full-time pastor obviously. He is just a "help-pastor" and has been part of some groups to start different churches in Eunapolis. Needless we were pretty shocked. Then we started the lesson. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was amazing. Elder Gomes is the man! He knows the scriptures so well and we were all so in sync. I shared some experiences with them about Gramma and then at the end we talked about how it is all possible because of Christ. We testified of the truthfulness and importance of the Atonement and it was so spiritual in the room. And then Elder Hilton just went for it, he invited them to be baptized!!! They have all been baptized in other churches already so we talked about how they invitation is to be baptized by the authority of the Priesthood and then we focused on the recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost and how they can receive that by the laying on of hands. It was awesome and they  really commit to the date but said they would continue to pray to know if it is true.  So it was a great lesson and they said they would come to church!! 

Friday was another full day! We finally found this man named Alefe! He was found by Elder Loureiro when he was here in Eunapolis like 2-3 transfers ago. He was so close to being baptized but then Elder Loureiro was transferred and he fell through. The elders worked with him last transfer but he was just different. So this transfer we had NOT been able to find him! But we finally lucked out and did! We taught him and it was super great. We watched the video of Peter walking on water and then falling and Christ reaching out to grab him. Then the video of Christ's baptism. We watched those to prepare him for the conversation because he seems afraid to get baptized then just go mess up and go inactive. We told him, if Peter started to lose faith and sink, imagine us! We surely will, but Jesus is there to reach out and grab us! It was awesome and he accepted a baptismal date for May 5th! 

Friday we also went by real quick to visit Branca and Iasmin. We didn't have a lot of time because Elder Gomes had to leave to grab his bus back to Salvador and we weren't on bikes. We don't have a 3rd one so we walked and wow I realized that I do not miss walking haha! I love the bikes! It makes things a lot more effecient. Anyways we just went and talked about the last lesson when we invited them to be baptized. They remembered and Elder Gomes asked if they are praying. Branca says she is and then we talked about how we need to put our faith in practice to get an answer! It was really great for the time we had! 

Saturday we had a busy day visiting and following up with people for them to go to church on Sunday. At the end of the night we had about 15 people confirmed to go to church! That is usually a common thing and usually ends with like 5 people at church. But man oh man, Sunday was a good one. 

We got up early and got to the church early to wait and greet people. First Jailton and Lucas showed up which was awesome! That was already 1 investigator at church. At around 8:50 no one else had shown up! Members or investigators. It was super weird. Then this dude on a motorcycle showed up and said that a member had invited him to come. He could only stay for an hour but we invited him in and he came, that was 2. Then it was like 9:05 and we had to go in to start the meeting. We walked in a little sad and then they asked us to bless the sacrament. When we were about to start Branca walked in with Iasmin and one other girl named Irana, (another daughter of hers that we didn't know existed haha). We got super happy and that was 5 investigators! So the meeting continued and we were happy but also a little sad because Israel and his family had said they would come and didn't show up. So we walked out and called them and they said they were coming! At about 9:45, during the last talk, Israel and his WHOLE family showed up! It was so awesome because the whole branch looked over and saw them walk in with us! We had saved a row in the front so everyone saw haha! It was so awesome! The last talk finished and the closing hymn was "Families can be Together Forever"!!! It was amazing! We had TEN investigators at church!!!!!!!!! We were so happy. The members here were amazing and immediately went and talked to all of them and treated them great and really fellowshipped. We were so pumped! They even stayed. So we will follow up with all of these people this week and see what they thought of church!!!!! It was an amazing Sunday that ended that night with a transmission from the Area Presidency for all of Brasil! 

So that was our week! I love the Savior and this work of His! It is a sacred work that brings sacred experiences! I love it more than anything! 

Love you all too! Have a great week! 

#Itsalltrue

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Israel and his family a few weeks ago. They take pictures each time we visit and sent us a few this week.

"...when you find the joy in the work, it is all worth it!"

Heading out on our bikes. Notice our pants/socks...don't want to get stuck in the chain.

Hey Everybody!!! 

How are you guys doing?! I hope everyone is having a fantastic Monday! How was everyone's week? Ours was pretty tiring but a lot of fun. That is the best part about missionary work is that it is hard, tiring work, but when you find the joy in the work, it is all worth it! I will try to hit the highlights of the busy and rainy week here. It was fun to have rain because it cooled down the weather just a little bit. The funny part about the rain here is that it is just like the movies! You can be sitting inside and it is all sunny and literally in like 1 minute everything goes dark. The funniest part is that out of nowhere it just starts pouring rain. It doesn't start little by little it just goes from nothing, to full on downpour. But it stops after like 5 minutes haha! It is pretty cool, but inoportune sometimes if you get stuck outside! Anyways here we go.... 

Anyway, we had a great week here! I am loving this area still and being with Elder Hilton. It is fun to have someone that understands your stories when you tell them because we come from the same background, haha. We are becoming quick buds and it is a shame that this transfer is only a 5-week transfer. But I am sure we will stay friends especially since we are both going to BYU in the fall. 

So last Monday after our p-day out on the town we headed home to shower and get ready to go to Salvador. The thing that is tough about being so far south in our mission is that the bus ride is 12 hours long! These buses that we get aren't like school or city buses but they are like huge, fancy buses. I don't even know if in the United States, bus travel is still a thing but here it is huge. I think it is pretty fun because I had never really done it before. So our bus was at 7:35 and we got to the bus station cutting it pretty close but we made it. We were happy to see that we got the same bus as Sister Alves! She is in an area further south than us in our zone, about 3 hours by bus, and she is a Sister Training leader so she also goes to council. But usually that are where she is has 2 STLs but this transfer it is just her. So she was going to go alone but the secretaries helped her out and got us the bus that she was on going to Salvador and we had no idea so it was a fun surprise. We got to Salvador around 8 in the morning and we were all pretty dead because it is hard to sleep on those buses.

Running into Sister Alves on the bus on our way to Leader Training. A 12 hour bus ride back to Salvador.

Another 12 hours back to Eunapolis

Tuesday was a fun day at the mission home! I realized how much I had already missed Salvador and it was fun to be back for the day. Leadership council was great. We talked a lot about General Conference and also about how we can better minister as missionaries. In our mission we do these things called verifications where we get the directory of the area we are serving in and then go find all the inactive people to update there addresses, see if they have moved, and see if they have the desire to come back to church. We talked about how we can better implement that in our mission and how we can be better ministers to those people and our investigators. It was great. I have one more cool experience from council that I will share at the end of this letter! 

Wednesday was tiring because we had to run and grab our bus the night before after council and we got back to Eunapolis around 7:30 in the morning. That afternoon we had a really great lesson with Patrick. He is an awesome guy he just needs to go to church! Anyways we got there and he had read the chapter from the Book of Mormon that we left with him. We decided to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. It was a super awesome lesson and he really liked it. We talked a lot about his purpose on the Earth and how he has been searching for it. We testified that he is here to have joy, and to prepare to meet God. He loved it and we decided to challenge him to baptism. He accepted to prepare for the 28th of this month. We were super excited. Fast-forward to Thursday morning and out of nowhere Patrick calls and tells us that he doesn't want visits anymore and that he had a great time getting to know us but that it's not for him. We were super taken aback after he had just accepted a date for baptism during a spiritual lesson. Of course something had to have happened. Like someone said something to him or he found something on the internet about the Church that wasn't true or something. We told him we just wanted to visit him one more time and so we kept our appointment for Saturday marked. Saturday he wasn't there but we found him on Sunday night and marked with him for Tuesday but he seemed super normal so we don't really know what is going on with him but we are praying that we can still save him! 

Wednesday evening we also went and taught Branca and Iasmin. They were doing great and Iasmin was super question-y again but it was a good visit. We had planned on teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ but I felt like we needed to teach the Plan of Salvation to them too and it was a great lesson. At the end Iasmin said that she felt better knowing that her grandpa and uncle who have already passed away have a chance to get to know the truth still. Both her and Branca seemed pretty touched by the message and said that they were feeling the Spirit. It was super great! 

Thursday night we finally got to go back to our favorites, Israel and his family. We headed over with plans to teach about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were a little sad to see that when we got there Jucilene (mom of the family) had to leave. She was headed off to a school meeting. So that night we only got to teach Israel, Cristina, and Clara. Carol the oldest daughter was in her room studying for some big college test she had the next day. But we still had an awesome lesson. We took Books of Mormon for the rest of the family and it was awesome. We ended up reading 2 Nephi 31 with the three who participated and it was awesome. At the end of the lesson we were about to get up to go when Jucilene got home and Carol came out of her room. Israel asked for the guitar and started singing this gospel song. It was kind of funny because he wasn't the best singer but after he finished he handed it over to Carol and asked her to sing. And wow it was so awesome. She plays guitar super good and sings great! She sang two songs and the cool part was that the family like joined in on the chorus and totally harmonized haha! I felt like I was watching a movie. And the song she sang was called "Ser Valente" which means, "Be Valiant". So it was a great night and actually the only night we got to see them last week.

Friday was another fun day. Our district leader and his companion came up from Porto Seguro so we could do a district meeting. And guess what, our whole district is Americans!!! It is so funny. Elder Kilidjian, our district leader, wrote on the board "District Heart of America". It was so funny and we had a great meeting and took some good pics haha! I'll send them! That afternoon we headed back to Branca and Iasmin's. We decided before that we needed to challenge them to baptism. So we got there and taught the third lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end we started asking them what part they were in of the Gospel of Christ. They said repentence and then we asked, "well what is after that then?" The answer is baptism so we started talking about baptism and then we had to explain that even though they had been baptized before they needed ot be baptized by the correct authority and most importantly, need to get the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was one of those conversations that you can't beat around the bush and we did our best and it went well. They accepted a goal for baptism at the end of the month so we are excited about that. 

Being goofy after District Meeting

We are an All American Zone....SOOOOO rare in our Mission

Saturday was a busy day. We ran all over town talking to people in the rain haha. As of Saturday night we had about 8 people say they were going to come to church. Israel's family, Branca and Iasmin, and one more person. We were excited so we celebrated that night trying a little burger place here that we were skeptical about but ended up being SUPER good. The first hamburger that I have eaten here that is American quality haha.

A REAL American Cheeseburger

It's been a LONG time since eating one of these!!

Sunday came and we got a little disappointed. We got to church around 8:50 and I grabbed the only priest in our branch to wait out front with me. Elder Hilton had the idea to play prelude since he has some really cool arrangments of hymns and plays the piano really well. We don't have a pianist in our branch, just this sister who presses play on the hymns since the piano here has an automatic hymn player. So Elder Hilton ran inside and I waited out front. After about 10 minutes no one had shown up that told us they would come! We called Branca and she said her mom had gotten to town that morning and that she wouldn't be able to come. UGH! So then we called Israel who also told us they wouldn't be able to make it. We were crushed. It is so sad when this happens because we had planned a whole special lesson for them that day and told a ton of members that they would come. But looking on the bright side we did have this one guy named Jailton who showed up. His son is that only priest in our ward's dad. Lucas (the priest) brought his non-member dad! We were super excited and he loved church. He had been a ton of other times years ago but never could consistently go because of his work. But his work just changed so for now his weekends are free so we are going to take advantage and teach and try to baptize him! It could be so good because his own son could do it! We are pretty excited so I will give updates on that next week! Sunday afternoon we visited Milena, a 19-year old girl who is a 7th Day Adventist. She is super sincere and that is why we have hope in her. The Book of Mormon is strange for her but she reads what we leaves and is really praying for God to show her the truth. She seems a little confused and overwhelmed by everything that we teach because it makes sense to her but she is also conflicted with everything that she grew up learning in her faith. So she is an interesting one but has a lot of potential. 

So that is about it! I wanted to share just a little quick story from our council meeting. At the end of a long day and meeting President Bangerter got up to share some last words. He started to bare his testimony and started to get emotional. He started by saying,' "I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to work with you all in this great work and to be your mission president." After that sentence he was already choked up and once again, out of nowhere I found myself the same as him. I don't know what it was but I could FEEL inside of me the sincerity of the testimony of that man. I have grown to love and appreicate and look up to that man and his wife in these two short years. I felt an incredible love for him in that moment. I was looking at a hero and hearing him testify of Jesus Christ, His restored Church, and our living Prophet. I felt the Holy Spirit testify to me that what he was saying is the truth. It kind of seemed like he was acknowledging the fact that his mission is ending too. It made me sad to realize, again, that if his mission is ending, that means mine is too. I am by no means ready to leave yet but the reality is the reality. I love being a missionary and serving Jesus Christ and I know that all that I have the opportunity to teach to these wonderful people in this amazing place, is the truth. 

Well I hope that made sense! I love you all and pray for you always! Have a great week! 

#itsalltrue

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Here is a quick excerpt from Elder Hilton's (Spencer's companion) email to his family today. His mom posted it to his blog and I just read it! My heart is so full! 

I am so grateful to be companions with Elder Christofferson. Being with him, I can´t think of a better way to finish off my mission. He is a great missionary (and his portuguese is super good) Shout out to Elder Christofferson´s parents! Thanks for sharing your son with me! He is awesome! 

THE Elder Prince and I reunited!

Lunch with some members this week!

Flavia is preparing for her mission and she wanted to make us lunch yesterday...
It didn't turn out so well and the Lasagna exploded in the oven. LOL!

"A brief overview of a FANTASTIC week"

Dropped off suitcases and headed straight to work! 

Hey everyone! 

How are you all doing?! I hope everyone had a great week! This week for me was CRAZY and AMAZING!! It was transfer week and I was transferred for the first time in 6 months haha! I had almost forgotten what it was like! But it was a blast and I am LOVING my new area and new companion. I am in a small town called Eunápolis and it is an awesome place. It is so different from Salvador. We have the whole city for ourselves and we have BIKES!!! I feel more misisonary than ever! It has been so fun but I am a little sore I must admit. So last monday night I went to the bus station to get my bus at 8 at night after I said goodbye to some of the people I had gotten to know in Salvador. I got on my bus alone, which is so weird, and I was off! I said goodbye to the huge crazy city I came to love but not for long because I will have to go back soon. Like this next week for Leader Training, haha! The bus ride was about 12 hours long. It was super cool because I got a bus with 2 floors! I've never been on a double decker bus like that before. 

So Tuesday morning I got here at about 7:45 and walked off the bus and Elder Hilton, my new companion,  was there waiting for me with Elder Lee, his companion last transfer. We waited another 2 hours for Elder Lee's bus to arrive and him to head out to his new area. We then got a taxi and got to our house. I didn't even unpack my bags and we headed out to work... riding on our bikes! It was a blast to ride around on a bike again even though I'm a little sore, haha. (Quick insert from Marilee....I've become friends with Spencer's new companions mom. Spencer has only had one other American companion his whole mission and I love connecting with the moms of his comps anyway, so to find his American comps mom was so much fun. Anyway, she and I were texting this week and she shared the story of how Spencer's new area got approved to have bikes... Apparently Elder Hilton was in the area during the last transfer and quickly realized how far away everything was. It would take 30 or more minutes to walk to their appointments and he felt like it wasn't efficient use of their time, so he called up the Mission President to discuss it. There are no official "bike areas" in their mission but he plead his case and President B agreed that the area could use bikes. There was one catch though, Elder Hilton would have to pay for the bikes or he could fix up 2 old ones that the mission had stored in another apartment in the zone. Elder Hilton got hold of the old bikes, fixed them up and now the missionaries ride bikes in that area.) 

We had one of the coolest experiences of the week after lunch on Tuesday. So we were biking to a different part of the area and my chain fell off. (2nd time in less than 2 hours, haha) We stopped to fix it and this man had just gotten out of his parked car and looked over and asked if we wanted help. We said yes so he showed us a trick on how to fix it and then said he could tighten some part so that it didn't fall off again. We were stopped in front of his house so he said, "come on in real quick and I can fix it up for ya." So we walked into his garage and he went in to get some tools and then his wife and his 12 year old daughter came out to talk to us. It was like one of those things you see in the church magazines. They offered us water and asked us all about our missions and what we do and stuff. They loved it and then offered us to eat lunch! We had just eaten so we politely declined but it was crazy cool, we had known them for less than 10 minutes. And then BEFORE we could even ask to set up a time to come back THEY asked us to come back first! That night!!! Obviously we didn't decline haha and they marked the appointment with US! It was crazy. The dad, his name is Israel, he wanted us to meet his whole family. That night we went back and had an AMAZING time. So we showed up at 7 and they were waiting for us. We met the whole family, Israel (father of the family), Jucilene (wife), and their 3 daughters. Carol(20), Cristina(15), and Clara(12). We explained a little more about our work and then Israel told us why he helped us. He started to tell a story that 10+ years ago, he was one day getting ready to build his house and then 3 Elders walked by and asked him what day he was going to start constructing and he told them it would be Sunday Morning. They said that they were going to come and that they didn't need to be paid. He didn't belive them but they showed up on the day at 6am and worked harder than the other guys he had hired! So since that day he says he has respected our work a lot and when he saw us on the road he had the impression to help. So thanks to those missionaries helpíng someone YEARS ago, it opened the door for us! And that night we taught the wonderful message of the Restoration. It was incredible. The whole time they were focused on us and payed so much attention. Israel was even taking notes! Haha it was insane. So towards the end we moved to the floor haha. We were doing a drawing explaining the lesson and Elder Hilton got up to show it to the wife who was sitting on a pillow on the floor and when he went over the rest of the family did too. I was still sitting on the couch but when everyone followed Elder Hilton to the floor to show the mom, I was like, "well guess I will go too." It was so cool because we were all sitting on the floor in a circle close to each other and I got to talk about the First Vision. It was so spiritual. It felt like the rest of the world around us just disappeared. Everyone in that room felt it. I testified of the truthfulness of our message and then Elder Hilton did the same and we finished. They loved it and committed to praying and reading. Then they fed us dinner and we were off! When we left and got off their street I looked over to Elder Hilton and said, "ELDER WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?!" Haha we laughed and got super happy. We are so grateful that Heavenly Father guides us to find his elect! But more on them later.

Wednesday we just had a busywork day with unpacking, cleaning up a little bit, getting ourselves organized and doing weekly planning because we couldn't on Thursday. Thursday we had a service project in the morning! It was fun and I got to meet the branch president, President Almir, and Irmão Diego, who is the Elders Quorum President . It was a fun time and we helped a lady move. The best part was that the truck driver was this big funny guy who had quite an uncommon name. I thought it was fake but he was telling the truth. His name was JOSÉ SMITH!!!! It was hilarious when he told us and we didn't believe it. A guy, non-member, named Joseph Smith haha! It was funny. 

Thursday we also found another amazing family. Elder Hilton had told me about a girl that they had contacted the last week of last transfer. We decided to head over there. We found the girl Iasmin and then we met her mom named Branca and the son named Icaro. So apparently we found out that last year in about October they had met the missionaries and that the mom had actually gotten pretty close to being baptized! Of course we were super excited about that. So then we taught the first lesson to the whole family and they loved it. It was cool because Branca remembered a lot of it! We really had a good lesson and they committed to going to church. Branca said that she had actually walked by the church on that same day and had the thought, "I need to start coming back here." And then who shows up at her house that night? We did!! Haha, isn't it amazing how God works?

Friday was a tougher day because everything fell through but that night we had a lesson with Israel and his family! We got to teach everyone except for the mom because she had to go run errands. But they fed us again, before the lesson this time, and then we had the lesson. We explained with more detail the Book of Mormon and it was awesome. They loved it, especially the two older daughters. They were super excited to read it and we had only brought one copy, (we forgot to take more haha) and they had to do rock-paper-scissors to decide who was going to read first haha. It was awesome and then we kind of shifted roles and they started to talk. Israel started to tell a story about his oldest daughter, Carol. He said that when she was 13 they discovered some weird lump on her stomach at a normal doctors appointment and then looked more into it. At this point in the story Carol interruped and asked to tell the story. So she took over and told the rest. She had surgery on this tumor and got it all out. But then the doctor told her dad they thought it was cancer. Israel didn't accept it. He kept saying that his daughter didn't have cancer but after time they got the results and it was cancer. So they had a meeting with the doctor and he said she would have to do chemo and a bunch of stuff and if not the cancer would spread. It was a super aggresive type and the doctor said it had to be done ASAP. Israel was still determined that Carol didn't have cancer and demanded that she didn't. The doctor gave her 9% to live. So they refused and wanted to do a test to see if she had tumors. A year after the surgery they did some type of Scan thing to see the cancer and when they got the results she had nothing. The cancer was gone. The doctor said that if 10 years passed and she felt NOTHING that she was good! But he said that she wouldn't make it that long. It has been now 7 years and she is prefect! What a miracle right?! I love that family! They couldn't go to church this sunday but next week they will! 

Saturday we had another good day. We visited Branca and her family again with a member named Flavia who is waiting for her mission call and lives close to them. I gained a better testimony of the power of members because we taught the Book of Mormon and Iasmin had a lot of questions and doubts and Flavia just took over and explained her story and how she had the same first thoughts and stuff.It was so amazing and spiritual! And it helped! Because on Sunday Branca and her daughter came to church! 

Saturday night we taught this guy named Patrick. He has been an investigator for a couple weeks. We had a nice little lesson with him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was awesome. I don't know why but I feel like he has a lot of potential! He is 20 and really just looking for the truth. I love how we find so many people who are in the same situation as Joseph Smith was! 

Sunday was great and we had 4 investigators at church! I love this little branch already. The attendence was 58 this week and apparently that is a lot for  them.They are super excited to work with us to make their little group of saints grow! 

Well this is a long one so that is it! That was just a brief overview of the fantastic week! 

This new area is awesome. The city is small and super fun and I am loving it so far. This place is a lot different from Salvador though. Here is quiet haha. Elder Hilton and I are also having a great time so far together. It is so weird being with an American again and we speak a lot of English. it is okay though because he needs to practice and so do I. But we have already become good buds already. Elder Hilton only has 4 weeks left and if this week was any indication these next four weeks are gonna be awesome! 

I love you all so much. Jesus Lives!!! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

#itsalltrue

PICS

1. The day I arrived in Eunapolis. Dropped off my suitcases and we were off! 

2. The primary president in our branch asked us to help teach in Primary. Here we are with all the cute little kids.

3. Us after a trip to the grocery store! 

Our kitchen/office area

We got a new map to use to help us plan better and work more effectively

Both BYU Bound next fall! 

After our grocery shopping trip

Pizza is good for the soul! 

At church with 2 investigators

Helping in Primary on Sunday

Our kitchen sink broke so we had to do dishes in the bathroom

"The work is hastening"

Bike ride from last Monday for Pday!

Hey everyone!!! 
How are you all doing?! I hope everyone is doing fantastic! Our week was a good one but I don't have a lot of time to write so I will have to be brief today! Sorry! Next week will better! But you may ask, why do I have to be brief? Because today is a transfer day. And I am getting TRANSFERRED! Woohoo!! I will be going to Eunapolis. It is a place that is the far south of our mission, in the county of Porto Seguro, which is a huge tourist city here because it is the place that Brasil was discovered. Apparently it has a lot of history and I love history so I am pumped! Eunapolis isn't in Porto Seguro, it is about an hour north but we will have to go there a lot because I will still be a Zone Leader for Porto Seguro. My companion will be Elder Hilton who is an American!!! He's only the 2nd American companion I've had during my whole mission! I am super excited and we are going to have a great time. This is going to be his last area so I am pretty nervous because I want to do good and help him go out with a bang! 

Leaving São Cristovão will be strange since I've been here for so long and have made a lot of friends. I have been in this ward for 4 transfers which totals 24 weeks which is a long time for a missionary to stay in one place. I will miss it here though and will be forever grateful to Heavenly Father for my time here. It wasn't always easy but it was such a learning experience for me. I love how God does things in our lives that at moments we don't understand, but afterwards when we look back on it we see that it was exactly what we needed. I am sad to leave Elder Loureiro too because we have become really good friends. The good news is that I'll get tol see him again because we are in the same group to go home!  Anyways, big changes and I am excited!!

So our week was kind of tough because after last week when Elder Loureiro got sick he took a day or two to get better. By about Tuesday he was back to full strength and we had a zone meeting with President Bangerter and the other zone here in Salvador. The big topic was the new Ward Mission plan that the mission is trying to put into place in the wards and branches. President Bangerter discovered that a lot of the wards here don't have a ward mission plan! Tuesday, we talked about it. It wasn't a full on zone conference, just a zone meeting.  One of the goals he asked us to put in to place is for every member to give 3 referills a year to the missionaries. I think that is VERY do-able! I am super excited and I challenge all of you to do the same! Another one of the goals is for every family to have one family night every quarter with a non-member family and invite the missionaries! I love that too and think that is very do-able. I am very excited about it! As always it was amazing to see President Bangerter and Sister Bangerter. They are both very happy and cheery these days. I think they are enjoying the last few months of their mission here and are content with how their mission is ending. They are working to make sure everything is ready for the new mission president to take over in July. It's pretty crazy to think about them not being here, but then it's crazy to think about me not being here too!! :-) 

Wednesday was a good day. At night we went to visit Irmã Marlene and she is doing great. She is one strong lady. She is always in some type of tough situation but is always so faithful to the Lord. As we were leaving to go home since she was our last appointment, I started to feel a little strange. I got home and to make a long, sad story short, the rest of my night was spent being awake and sick! I got the virus that Elder Loureiro had! Ugh it was so frustrating because we were so excited to work super hard this week since it was the last of the transfer but then I got sick. So I spent Thursday and Friday getting better because wow that virus was a tough one. 

Saturday and Sunday were GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!! And WOW!!!!  What a time it was. Every single part was amazing. I love the new changes and progress that the Church is taking. I received many spiritual witnesses during the span of the two days that President Nelson IS really the Prophet of God here on the Earth. I am so grateful that we have the privilige of living in a time that we have a Prophet! What a blessing. The work is hastening, I can feel it here. And of course we were all so excited that Elder Soares was called as an Apostle. The members here were all so happy as he is the first ever Brasilian Apostle. When President Nelson was announcing the temples we were all waiting for him to say Salvador. I know some day it will happen and Salvador will get a Temple. The people here are so wonderful and need one close. But WOW, to hear Russia is getting a Temple??!! What a blessing!
So to finish my short letter I just wanted to express what touched me most at Confernece. One of the biggest things that I felt was that the conference was centered on Love. Love for our fellow-man and for God and His son Jesus Christ. Love is what is going to run the new ministering program and love is what enables us to get personal revelation. Not a love because you HAVE to love, but a pure, genuine love for our neighbors so that we can serve them. I felt immense love during the Solemn Assembly, when I was able to raise my arm to support our leaders. I feel love for the people here as I teach and see them seek the truth. The world needs this Christ-like love more than ever, and WE have the responsibility to spread it!
I love you all! Have a great week!
#itsalltrue...likeforreals!! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

The english speakers watching Conference 

Me and this dude named Elber. 

He is the man, he is on the stake high council 

and since I have been in this stake so long we have become good buds!