"I hit the one year mark this week...."

Me and Elder Alves on our porch 

Hi everyone!! 

So how are you all doing!? I'm sure everything is great! I had a bit of a shock this week when I realized HALF of July has already passed. On Saturday I was seriously confused on how it was already the 15th and I thought I had time traveled haha!! Time is flying by! This week for us was great! It ended with a AWESOME Sunday and that is always a plus for any week! But I will get to that! 

Tuesday we had an interesting but cool experience! Last Sunday we had done some splits with our Bishop and the Priests in our ward, so we had some appointments marked for the week of people who we found Sunday who said we could leave a message with them. Tuesday we had one of these people marked to go visit! So we went and found Antonio. Neither me or Elder Alves knew anything about this guy because we weren't in the group who marked to go meet him. From the minute that Antonio answered the door we realized that he had some problems. He is probably about 50 and he lives alone. He let us in and started to talk about how his sister is a member but inactive. So after we talked to him for a while we came to a crossroads. We could tell that he had some mental problems and didn't really know what was going on. We could've left and not left a message, since he probably wouldn't understand a whole lot anyway. But I had the strongest feeling from the Spirit that we needed to stay and share a message. So we did! We talked about the Restoration and it was really cool. Antonio thought it was a great story and said that he liked the message. He said he felt peace during the lesson. I really felt the Spirit too. I thought, "He too is a son of God and if it doesn't understand us, he can feel the Spirit." And that is what happened! It was just a small, but significant experience for me for some reason! 

Wednesday was great! We had an AWESOME lesson with Davi and Michele! They are the best! Because they had been sick last week, it had been more than a week since the last time we had seen them! So we were excited to teach them again! We had decided to read 3 Nephi 11 with them. We just all opened our scriptures and sat in a circle reading the word of God. I had another one of my "holy heck I'm on a mission" moments! I don't know why but as we were all reading I just got this big smile on my face and thought, "wow, I cannot believe I am here reading the Book of Mormon in a different language, with people who don't fully know me, in a country FAR from home." It was just awesome. After the lesson we were talking about how we were feeling and Michele explained how this was just feeling right. We got really excited and then invited them to church and they said they would come! But I will get to that later! 

Friday night I had a faith-building experience but in an unexpected way. So we were up in a far-ish part of our area searching for this man named Raimundo. We had passed by there a few weeks earlier with out Ward Mission Leader because he knows Raimundo. He wasn't home at the time so we decided to come back. We remembered where the house was, but the problem was that we couldn't remember what the name of the man who lived there was! The time we had passed by we didn't even meet him cause he wasn't home. So this time we just decided to knock on the door and hope for the best. This kid answered the door and we started to do a normal contact with him when he said, "wait, I think I know why you're here!" He ran and got his dad who was Raimundo haha! So he let us in and was super nice and let us talk and get to know him. Normally when we do these visits with inactive members we start by taking down some of their info to see if they have moved or changed phone numbers or somthing like that. So we did that then started to talk about the Restoration to see if he remembered. That was when the visit changed. Raimundo started to talk about how he was now in a different church and then started to talk a whole lot of stuff negative against the church. About the Book of Mormon, about the Priesthood, about a whole bunch of stuff. He was attacking us pretty much. I really have not had much of this on my mission so I didn't really know how to handle it. I just listened and let him talk. The faith building part was with every word against the Church he said, I just felt my testimony growing. It was weird. I just kept thinking, "but I know that this is true" and "I wish he could feel this too!" It was pretty cool. I didn't Bible Bash or anything because I didn't want to. At the end me and Elder Alves both just bore our testimonies. He seemed pretty shocked to see that. It kind of took him by surprise. I love this work! 

Saturday was a fun day as we had one of the Priests go out with us for the afternoon. Junior, the priest, saw the tough part of the work haha. We had about 4 appointments marked, one being a friend of Jr's and every one fell through. So we started to do some contacts and talk with people. Jr was so awesome! He only is 16 but was not scared or nervous at all to talk to people! At least from what I could tell haha! It was cool to see how open and ready he was to talk about the Gospel already, only being 16! We all need to be willing to be like that! 

So the big, amazing week end was Sunday! I was expecting for about 5-6 people who we invited to come to church. As the meeting was about to start only 1 had shown up! I was standing in the door waiting and I heard the meeting start. With a sigh I went to sit down, a little discouraged. Especially about Davi and Michele. They are like ALWAYS true in the commitments. And they weren't there. So the meeting started and we sang the opening hymn and prayer and during the announcements I felt someone tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Davi and Michele with their daughter Julia standing in the back smiling and waving! I literally almost screamed with joy haha! I don't know why but I just love them so much! I knew they were going to come through! So they came to church and loved it! We didn't get a lot of time to talk to them at the end but we are going to visit Tuesday. Another awesome thing was the reaction of the members, especially the leaders. The minute Sacrament meeting ended Davi and Michele had like a crowd around them of members who wanted to greet them. It was seriously amazing! They were celebrities! Haha! I was instantly grateful and happy that the Lord blessed us with awesome members who are so loving! All you back home, when an investigator goes to church, go be their friend!! The Elders or Sisters will love you forever! Our Gospel Principles teacher said that during Relief Society she sat with Michele. And during the closing hymn, Michele got emotional and started to cry! So I am so excited to go visit them Tuesdayto see how they liked church!! Great Sunday! 

So that is about it folks! I was reading in Ether 12 this week and came across verse 4 which I love!! It states

"4 Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

Don't lose hope!!! God is in control and all will be well in the end! It is all true! 

Love you guys more than anything.
I hit the one year mark this week... talk about crazy! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

Me and Elder Alves attempting a photo but my tie blew in his face. I thought it was pretty funny!

 Me and my new Bahia soccer jersey! I think it is cool! haha

 It's Michael Jackson

"I'm Proud to be an American"

Celebrating on the 4th with the Flag socks

Hi, everybody!!! 

How are you all doing? Another week has gone by yet again! I blinked and it's p-day again and I'm sitting here writing this to you! What is happening? Haha! This week was great! I love this Gospel! Every day I study and teach about it, I love it more and more. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and changes lives! And mine is being changed too! 

So last Monday night I felt like Charlie/Elder Masino in Florida! There was a mini hurricane here! While it probably didn't even come close to a hurricane but here in Salvador, it was crazy! It was SOOO windy and rainy. Close to where we live this lady named Kika has a food stand where she sells stuff during the week. We were there when the wind came. We had to grab on to the polls of the tent thing so it wouldn't blow away!!! It was crazy! The power went out in a ton of places, power lines fell over and Salvador was not prepared for this wind! It was an adventure that is for sure! 

Tuesday was the 4th of July!! I might be in a different country but I'm still American, so I celebrated the best I could. Which just meant with the clothes I wore! J  I wore my blue pants and a red tie with my white shirt. But the best part was my socks! I'll send a picture! The funny part was that the socks actually got a ton of questions so it turned into a good way to start and talk to people! Another way I celebrated was telling literally EVERYONE I talked to about what day it was! It was a good contact and after I explained I was American and that it was the 4th, I explained that the USA became a place of freedom where the Restoration of the Gospel could happen. So I could talk about the Restoration with people! It was really cool and a lot of fun! I hope you guys all had a wonderful Independence Day wherever you were! I'm proud to be an American! 

Tuesday afternoon we had a cool experience! We were headed over to a certain part of our area when I got the prompting from the Spirit that we should take a different road that we don't usually go on. So we did and as we got to the end of the road there was this huge school on the left with a ton of people going in and out. On the opposite side of the road were a few people with carts selling food and stuff. That is a common thing here. I didn't even look over but as we were passing by I heard a voice yell "Elders!" It was one of the Deacons in our ward, Tiago. He was at a cart with another big looking dude. We walked over and started talking to them. We found out the big guy was Tiago's uncle who is a member! His name is Danilo. He is inactive and moved back to Salvador about 2 months ago! He is an awesome guy! We had a pretty cool spiritual conversation with him at their food stand. He talked about how he has felt lost in his life and doesn't really know what he is doing and needs to change something! We invited him to return to church, testifying that the change he needs is this gospel! It just goes to show that the Spirit can be felt ANYWHERE!! We marked to visit him later this week! 

Wednesday morning we had a service project! Yes, a service project! It's a rare thing in this area. I realized that even though we ask to do service for everyone, it doesn't happen too often. Anyway, we helped a family move Wednesday morning! They lived on the third floor so our legs were sore afterwards, but it felt awesome to do some service! It always reminds me of when we would help people in the ward back home move! It was a blast. 

Wednesday night we had a tough and sad experience. One of our investigators, Luciano, told us he is going to stop taking the discussions and going to church. It was sad because we were all excited and prepared to have a great lesson with him! His reasoning was that he didn't want to keep taking the lessons and going to church when he was doing bad things! He said he wasn't 100% in he said. I appreciated his honesty but we tried to change his mind. I explained and testified how that kind of situation is EXACTLY why we need to go to church and try! When someone is doing bad things and feeling down is when they NEED to go to church, not go away from it. We read scriptures with him like Luke 4:18. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised," We explained that Christ came to heal and help people exactly in his situation. The Spirit was intensely strong in the room. We did all we could but in the end, he stayed firm in his position. He said he just wants to take a "break." Everybody has free agency! It was sad but we will see how it all works out in the end. Luciano is a great person! I hope and believe he will get baptized one day. 

Thursday was a great day! We had a Zone Conference! I got to see a bunch of my friends and it was a really awesome Conference. We learned and talked about exactly what I felt I was needing. Working better with members and giving baptismal dates! One thing I really liked that President Bangerter said was that if we don't swing, we will never hit the ball! He gave that great baseball analogy with respect to giving baptismal dates to our investigators! We have got to at least try! I loved the analogy but I don't know if  some of the Brazillian missionaries fully understood it  because Baseball is not a common sport in Brasil! 

After the awesome Zone Conference, I went and did a split (I think that's what it is called in English, here we call it a division) in Brotas. Brotas is the area of the Assistants and they are in my district! I was there because Elder Jenkins and his companion Elder Espirito Santo were going to baptize a lady Saturday! So I got to do my first ever baptismal interview!! Man I was nervous and praying so hard to Heavenly Father that he would help me make the interview good and spiritual! He responded and delivered! The lady I interviewed was named Maria Creuza! She was SOO ready! The answer to my prayer came from her! All I had to do was ask the questions and she responded with really strong testimonies of what she had been taught about the Gospel!! It was her who did most of the talking and I felt the Spirit very strongly and was so grateful that I could have the privilege of doing her interview. After, Elder Jenkins and I went and taught a few lessons to some of their other investigators and it was amazing to learn from him! He even said he learned from me which surprised me but I was grateful for the great division! 

Friday we also had an amazing experience! Last week we ran into this girl who we found out she was a member after my companion bought a popsicle from where she worked! We marked with her for Tuesday night but had to remark for Friday night! Elder Alves got pretty sick Friday so I asked him if he wanted me to reschedule again. He thought for a few seconds then replied, "No we can visit them." So we did and it was amazing. Jessica is married to Marcos and they are both members! They have been inactive for a few years now but they are AWESOME! We taught the first lesson and it was great. We found out that Marcos even has the Melchizedek Priesthood! At the end of our lesson, we asked if they would go to church with us Sunday! They both responded yes of course!! I was a little shocked, haha! It was soo easy!! They are the best! They ended not being able to come though because Marcos was really sick and so was their little daughter. But are visiting them this week again and I am excited! 

Sunday afternoon we went on some divisions with the Priests in our ward! It was a blast and reminded me of the times that I went out with the missionaries back home! 

This week during my study I was reading in Ether and had a really cool thought. I was reading the part when the Brother of Jared sees the Lord. The Lord says that there was never anyone else who had such great faith than the Brother of Jared. But why? At our Zone Conference, President Bangerter talked about faith and how faith is action. Before the Brother of Jared saw the Lord he was doing what? Acting! He was making the stones and creating the idea that he then went and presented! For the miracles to come we have to act! The only time that "success" comes before "work" is in the dictionary!! 

OH! I almost forgot! Last night I received some GREAT news! Elder Souza , my last companion back in Conquista called me! Do you remember Cristielen and her husband Luis Paulo? Well,  when Elder Souza called me he said, "Guess who I baptized yesterday? And guess who I confirmed today? Luis Paulo!" He got baptized!!!!! Cristielen's husband! Man I got so happy when I heard the news I almost cried!! Seriously, I was sooooo happy! I had heard that he wasn't doing too good progressing with the lessons the first week after I was transferred so I was surprised to hear he had decided to be baptized! I told Elder Souza to tell them I am excited for their sealing in the Temple next year! I just love missionary work! I makes me so happy! 

Anyways that is all for this week! I love all you guys so much and hope you have a great week!

Elder Spencer Christofferson 

Me and Eddy! The BEST taxi driver ever. He is like famous in the mission. Whenever anyone in Salvador needs to go somewhere he takes you. He's not even a member but loves all missionaries and President and Sister Bangerter! 

Me and my mission "dad", Elder Santana! He was my Trainer and first companion in the mission and is my Zone Leader right now! 

Probably the last photo of me and Elder Johnson! He goes home at the end of this transfer! How time flies! Love this dude! 

"Heavenly Father is aware of our efforts..."

Hi Everybody!! 

So this week was awesome! Most people came back from last week's holiday and we got to meet with a lot more people! We had some awesome experiences this week! I just love being a missionary. Amazing things happen every week. I am making memories for my life and even better is that I am getting my faith strengthened! I feel loved and blessed more than any other time in my life out here in Brasil. I love this country too! I know that God really called me to be here and I am EXACTLY where I need to be right now! Oh and it's July! Happy July! 

Tuesday we had a cool little miracle. So we were looking for some less-active members. Earlier I had taken our list of members and picked a few streets that seemed to have a lot of people, and written them does. So we went searching/exploring our area. The funny part is that we didn't find ONE of those people on the list I made. But we did find another family who are members. We saw this girl and stopped to ask her about a street. But when we stopped her the first thing she said was, "Hi Elders." It caught us off guard and we asked her how she knew the Elders! Turns out she is the sister of this other young man, Davison, in our ward! Davison is active but the rest of his family isn't. So we talked to his sister, then him, then his mom and now we have a family night marked for tonight at their house! It was really cool. I felt like it was a small little miracle! I love those kind, haha! 

Wednesday night as we were leaving this neighborhood of our area, this man sitting in the plaza called us over. He was in about his early 30s and he was sitting with his wife who was chasing their toddler around. He told us his name was Roberto and that he was a member of the Church. He explained that he and his family were in a tough situation. They had little time in the city and were struggling a lot financially. He had gotten in a motorcycle accident last month and broke his leg. Because of that he had been let go of his job. We could see quickly that his family needed help. Roberto told us that they had been looking for help from churches and received none and that he hadn't known where the "Mormon" church was. But he said that when he saw us he remembered the Elders who had baptized him. We got his address and marked to go visit them. Friday afternoon we did. We found their house and I was humbled. Their house was the size of my room back home. Roberto is sleeping on the floor because there is only room on the mattress for his wife and son. The situation overall is just tough. But we had a really cool, spiritual conversation with them. Roberto expressed his desire to come back to church and, "feel that peace and family atmosphere" as he put it. I testified of the Atonement and promised Roberto he can be forgiven of his sins. It was really awesome and we set up a time for him to meet with Bishop! 

Thursday was I think my favorite day of the week. It just felt like Heavenly Father really showed me that he is aware of our efforts and work. We needed that confirmation too and it came at the perfect moment. Thursday afternoon we went to visit Daví and Michele for the second time. Since the first time we met with them we just got to know them, this time we went prepared to teach the Restoration. It was a fantastic lesson. The coolest part was towards the end when we talked about the Book of Mormon. Since Michele and Davi already had met the Sisters when they lived in São Paulo they had a Book of Mormon. Michele said how, "earlier today I was reading the Bible. I was reading in Isaiah 9 because I love Isaiah. After I finished I saw the Book of Mormon and picked it up to read. I just opened and started to rad. The part I read was almost exactly what I read in Isaiah 9! I thought it was so cool." Michele had opened to 2 Nephi chapter 19 where Nephi quotes Isaiah. It was sweet! She then went on to explain how when she first heard about the Book of Mormon she had immediately denied it. But then last Christmas her mother-in-law (who is a member in another ward here in our stake) gave her a Book of Mormon as a present with her testimony written and some scriptures marked. Michele said she was touched and read some of it and that now she loves the Book of Mormon. It was amazing! You guys may not be using a nametag but you still can be powerful missionaries!! 

Thursday night we had another cool lesson with a man named Fernando. Fernando is the man we met last Sunday when we passed by the big group of people watching soccer! We saw him again earlier in the week and talked to him and his wife. We marked to go teach him. We had a very cool lesson with. We taught the Restoration. The interesting part was that Fernando was pretty quiet during the lesson. And he usually seems to be a talkative guy. But at the end he said he'd read what we left with him and that he needed to do a lot of thinking and praying. The Spirit touched him! It was really cool and I love to see the Spirit work on people in different ways! 

Another really cool thing that happened on Thursday is that out of nowhere we got two media referral! The ones that Salt Lake sends. I've NEVER gotten any my entire mission so getting 2 in one day was awesome. And even better was the next day we got three!! A total of 5 in less than 24 hours. It was really cool and showed me that Heavenly Father is aware of our efforts and watching over us! 

Saturday we taught Davi and Michele again. This time we taught the Plan of Salvation and focused on eternal families! There is always a special type of feeling that enters the room when we teach about eternal families. They loved it and I hope one day they too can become an eternal family! It is one of the best Gospel truths that exists! If we do our best here and obey the commandments we can live with our families FOREVER!! Death is not the end. We will see our families again one day. I love having that knowledge! 

Anyways my beloved family and friends that is my week! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic and PATRIOTIC week!! 

Love you guys #USA!USA!USA!

Elder Christofferson

A young man in the ward named Junior.  He bore a really strong testimony during church on Sunday. 

Dery and I. He's another priest in the ward. Awesome and Hilarious! 

Joao. He's 10 years old and reminds me so much of my brother Logan when he was 10. 

"The Lord knows you and is helping you"

First District Meeting in my new area

Hi everybody!!! 

How are you all doing! I hope fantastic!! I am doing great here! We had a normal week with a few highlights! Summer is in full swing back home and here "winter." I put winter in quotes because winter just means rain haha! It rains every day! Especially since I am close to the ocean, it rains even more. And the craziest part is that it comes out of nowhere. It took a few days for me to learn that even when we leave in the morning to perfect, blue skies without one cloud, it will still rain. I didn't take my umbrella for those days and I payed the price haha! But now I learned! I may look crazy taking an umbrella out when there isn't a cloud in the sky but I am not! But this week was also a little slow because it was a holiday on Friday and Saturday! So everyone was out of town! But we made the best of what we had! 

Tuesday we had a cool experience. Two sisters from our zone called us on Tuesday afternoon saying they had an AMAZING reference for us. I think what we call references here is called referills in the States? I can't remember. Anyway the sisters said that a member in there ward had a son who had recently moved back to Salvador and that he is a member, but has been inactive for years. He moved back into our area and it just so happens that his wife isn't a member. So it sounded promising and we headed over there Tuesday night. We found the address and found Daví and Michele!! They are really cool. We talked to them and found out that they moved here about a month ago. For now they are both out of a job and searching. So their life is tough right now. Then we started to talk to Davi and found out he was baptized a long time ago. He now is around 30 years old and he was baptized as a child. His mom and sister are members too and they are both active. He told us he was active in the church for a few years but then went to São Paulo and went inactive. He said his mom even had the dream that he would be a missionary. He remembers a good amount of stuff about the Gospel but not all. Then we started to talk to Michele. She is awesome. We discovered that they had already met with the sisters when they were living in São Paulo!! It was crazy! She remembers a bunch of stuff and even still has a Book of Mormon. She has read it a ton! We started to talk to her about her doubts and why she wasn't baptized back in São Paulo. She expressed her uncertainty about a couple things and we explained. We had a really spiritual visit. Davi expressed how their lives have been tough lately and how he believes that God is answering his prayers little by little. I got to testify that "God doesn't forget us. He helps us everyday of our lives if we are doing the right things." It was great and they are now part of our group of people we visit!! I will continue to update on them as the time goes! 

Wednesday was my first district meeting as District Leader!! It was scary because I had to give the training but in the end it all went well. I spent the entire week leading up to it praying and pondering over what I should talk about. In the end I focused on commitment invitations. I wanted to focus on helping those type of investigators who are a little flakey, or who are just missing one thing to be baptized! Anyways I think it was a good meeting! It is a little nerve-wracking for the first time, especially when my district is the Assistants to the President and their companions haha! 

So Thursday also had a cool little moment. I was having a particularly tough afternoon/night. Our lunch had fell through for the first time in this area and no one was home because of the holiday. We were spending the day searching for less active members. And it was raining haha. The luck just wasn't with us for that day. Out of nowhere our cell rang. I looked down and saw "Pres. Bangerter" on the caller ID. I thought, "why is President calling?" I answered and he just asked how I was doing. He said that he just wanted to check up on us and see that all was good. I told him that it was a tough day and he comforted me. It was seriously awesome. He said, "Elder Christofferson, you are the man for this job. You are the Elder that needs to be in the Imbuí area right now. The Lord knows you and is helping you! Don't get down! You are a fighter and will do great things there! I love you and the Lord loves you more! Keep fighting!" It was so cool. It gave me the power to finish the day and the week. I love that President Bangerter listened to the Holy Ghost to call me! God knows us folks!! 

Friday was... interesting haha! I got sick. :( It was the sickest I had been in a while but it all ended up good. We spent the day at home because I was struggling and I really don't like doing that. I tried to go out and work but it was not going well. I figured it was better to be well rested so maybe I could work the next day and that is what happened. 

Saturday I was better! Not 100% but well enough to work! We went out with Bishop and the High Priest Group Leader to visit some less-active members. One person we visited I remember more than the rest. We went and found this guy named Gustavo. He's about 21 and has been inactive for a few years. We were focusing on finding the men around mission age! We had a nice visit with him and then at the end Bishop invited him to church. The sad part was when he just straight up rejected the offer. He said he doesn't have the desire to come back to church. It was sad. I left thinking a lot about that guy because I was imagining how different his life would be if he was on a mission. He would be a strong member of the church learning how to be a better man. Like what I am learning. It just made me sad to think that this kid was so unaware of all the blessings that he was letting pass by! 

Anyways that was my week! I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do to make this world a better place! Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and that knows you! 

Until July! 

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

"I was born to speak Portuguese"

My new companion Elder Alves

HI Everyone! 

So WOW! This week was crazy! Not crazy because a bunch of crazy stuff happened but crazy because it was a lot of NEW stuff! I got transferred so it was a new area, new companion, new house, new ward, etc. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world but I am all good and this transfer will be fantastic! My mission is flying by!! 

So last Monday after I wrote my emails I spent the rest of the day saying goodbye to people in Conquista. Because I had served in the branch AND the ward here I had double the people to try and say goodbye to, so it required a lot of time! I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone that I wanted to because I ran out of time but I hope they still know I love them!! 

 A few highlights here saying goodbye to Cristielen and Luis Paulo. They were sad and still trying to understand the whole missionary transfer thing. I really love that family and I know that Heavenly Father will help them in all they need and that Luis will be baptized soon! 

Another highlight was saying goodbye to Vagner! Since I left he has been staying strong in the church and now is even in the Young Mens Presidency! I saw him every week at church still and it was awesome. I also love his family and it was sad to part ways with my friend Vagner. He will stay strong and is still excited for the temple next year! Man, I love seeing people strong in the gospel. 

I can't really say enough about how amazing the people in Conquista are and were to me. I really love those people and they made an impression on my life! I was sad to say goodbye but I am forever grateful that I was able to get to know them. I truly was sent to this mission for a reason. 

Monday night I left late on a bus with my beloved trainer, Elder Santana, who also got transferred to Salvador and is my Zone Leader now!. We got to Salvador about 7 on Tuesday morning and Elder Santana headed straight to his area while I headed to the mission home alone. I had only been there ONCE in my entire life, (the day I got here haha), but by some miracle I was able to explain to the taxi driver where it was. I got there to find all the other trainers and AP's waiting. We talked, ate breakfast, and then the Assistants gave us a great training. They talked about being positive as a trainer and working hard. Their training got me excited which was the purpose of the meeting! Then President and Sister Bangerter got there with the greenies!!!! I think there were 6. 4 Elders and 2 Sisters. One of the Sisters is American and she played basketball at BYU Hawai'i! She is like 6 foot 3, haha. I had kind of like an INSANE moment standing there welcoming the new missionaries as they walked in. I remembered my first day which really doesn't feel like it was that long ago. It was crazy and it made me reflect on my mission and realize how fast time really does pass. 

After lunch, more trainings, and a quick interview with President, the Secretaries took me out to find my companion and new area. Turns out I didn't have to travel far to get to my area since its here in Salvador not too far from the mission home. Anyway, I met up with my companion Elder Alves and we went to our house. Elder Alves is from Campinas, São Paulo. He is 25 and a very small person :-). He is still getting used to the mission life having only been out 6 weeks plus the MTC, but he has a great testimony! 

Tuesday night after I unpacked we went over to the chapel so I could meet the Bishop, as he was having a meeting there. I got to meet a lot of members and they all seem fantastic!! I'm excited for the missionary work here to progress! After a full Tuesday I went home and went to bed early because I was TIRED!! 

We spent Wednesday cleaning the house, meeting with the Missionary Couple, Elder and Sister Briggs(they take care of all the apartments in the mission), and getting to know more members. By the time Thursday rolled around

 I was excited to truly get to work. I realized quickly that this area is almost without investigators. Which is sad because it is one of the largest areas in the entire mission, if not the biggest. President Bangerter told me that just my area here has more people that the ENTIRE city of Conquista where I just came from, so we've got a lot of work to do. Thursday after lunch we did meet with one of the few investigators, Luciano. He is 30 years old and an awesome dude. He has been an investigator for a good amount of time now and still isn't baptized. After talking to him I found out he hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon! Reading the Book of Mormon is sooooo important and of course reading it will help him be baptized!!! We talked about the Book of Mormon a little and I encouraged him to read it.  Then I got the feeling we should talk about the Plan of Salvation. So we gave a lesson about the Plan of Salvation and it was GREAT! The Spirit was so strong and it made me happy. I can't explain it but the feelings that come when we talk about Eternal Families is unreal. So awesome! 

Here in Brasil right now we are nearing a holiday called São João! It is like a HUGE deal but I really don't know how to explain it. It's like a big party with strange, western like dancing, where everyone eats corn and boiled peanuts, hahaha. I guess it's a big cultural thing here! Saturday night our ward had a party at the church and it was great! We had a lot of visitors and less-active people there! It was great to see and get to know the members. I don't remember a lot of the people's names though because I met SO MANY people! The party was great and it made me excited to get to know this ward better. 

Sunday we had a great day at church and Sunday night there was a general Stake Priesthood meeting. Usually in our mission, the missionaries don't go to this kind of meeting but the Stake President invited us. We got permission to go from President. I figured there had to be some kind of purpose behind us going and there was! The Stake President was last to speak and he called all the Elders to the front. There were 8 of us there and about 150 members. The Stake President said, "So this little army of 8 is trying to save people, but hey need help." He then turned to us and said, "Elders, what would happen to your work if you got reinforcements of about 150?" We all expressed how amazing and how much it would help. Then he turned to the men in the congregation and said, "Brethren, we are the reinforcments and they NEED us! We have been very weak with helping theses Missionaries and that needs to change!" Of course us missionaries were standing there, giddy about what was happening. Why? Because when we have help from the members the work goes 1,000,000 times better!! It was a great meeting and we are looking forward to the reinforcements! 

So this week was great! I am loving this place. Like, imagine Hawai'i, just a little more ghetto, and everyone speaking a different language. That's this area. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE being close to the beach. Every night when we get home, after I shower, I walk out and sit on our front porch thing and listen to the water and feel the wind. It is like pure Hawai'i. I love it. Every morning we go running on the path next to the beach so I hope that will help me get in shape haha. 

This area has a lot of hills and is HUGE. The weather has been rainy and a little cold. Well not cold haha but like for Salvador, cold. Which is like 75ish. The weather is hot and humid but not too bad as right now it is winter here and we get a constant breeze from the ocean. 

A really cool thing about this week is that a ton of people have commented on my Portuguese and say how good it is and that I don't even have an American accent. One lady thought I was from Spain, haha! It is awesome. It makes me want to speak better. I think I was born to speak Portuguese!! Seriously it is so cool! I really don't know how to express the feelings I have about speaking portuguese except that it is awesome! 

I love my mission. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that it is ONLY through him that we can be saved. I love you all! Have a great week!!

Elder Spencer P. Christofferson

The view from my apartment's front porch