Transferido!

Hello everybody! So another quick one this week, since there are a LOT of things to do today.

So this past week, we worked a lot with Franklin, Lucicleide and Marcilio for Saturday. On Friday, we went and did their wedding, and while we were there, we were witnesses for another couple who needed witnesses. We got their address and passed a golden reference onto the elders in that area! Then Saturday night, we did the baptism service, and Sunday they were already confirmed! 

Unfortunately, we both were transferred (since this transfer was only 5 weeks) and I am now in my new old area! I came back to Castelo, my first area, and my companion is Elder Cruz from São Paulo. I´ve already known Elder Cruz for a good amount of time and I am very excited to work with him here!

So this is just a short one, but for sure next week will be a good sized letter!

Love Elder Cornwell

Not Much to Say

Well, hello again! So there isn´t a whole lot to say this week... I guess the phone call killed my appetite for writing a big letter!

There were only a few highlights this week, since Elder F Silva got sick during the week, but let’s see what we got!

So we never managed to talk to Tarcio this week... it seems like we played a sort of hide and seek, and we never managed to meet with him. but come Sunday, he came to church, shook our hands and said ´´it took a little while, but I did say I would come!´´ We´ll see how the visit was for him on Tuesday.

We tried to talk to Nonata every day this week, but every day she had something she had to take care of and always asked us to come back the next day. But the first time, we offered our help for anything, and we ended up dropping off/picking something up at her sister´s house. We took advantage of the opportunity to mark an appointment to leave a message. The mother is super catholic, which seems to force her daughter to be as well, but her son doesn´t go to church, so we are more than welcomed in her home. Service really does give us more opportunities to teach!

We also taught Franklin and his family how to do a family night, and we took Marcio and Marcilio to seminary and the soccer game at night. We are going to go and ´sign´ their wedding this week, and the wedding will happen the next week.

As for highlights, that was about it! So... hope you all had a happy mother´s day, and to Drew, happy birthday on Saturday (I´ll buy some C-clamps for you when I get home!)

Love you all!

Elder Cornwell

Quase dia das mães!

Hello Everybody! So, my week wasn't super full of great events, but I've got plenty of quick highlights to share!

So, we've been meeting with two people from the area book, Jefferson and Silvia, but it's difficult with them, since neither is able to go to church on Sunday. Silvia does some military thing, and Jefferson has to stay at his Dad's house.

Tarcio, we weren't really able to talk to this week, since he has been sick the whole week, but we will start talking to him again this week.

On Wednesday, we taught Nonata and Luis Carlos, who have a son who just got back from his mission, but lives in another neighborhood. We talked about the Book of Mormon with them, and read a part. Nonata has heard the lessons a lot, so she already has a testimony, but she just doesn't know it. She also has a complicated home life, that for now, impedes her from being baptized right now, but we are helping as much as we can. She came to church on Sunday (actually , we were running late and she went ahead of us!). But she just loved church and came to an activity we did at night. Her son, Pablo, and us are feeling really good about the chances this time around. We had talked to her about how she would have to continue in the church and with the Book of Mormon no matter what to really use the Gospel in her life.

We also talked with Franklin, Lucicleide and Marcio (Lucicleide's brother). We gave them a straight challenge to stop drinking coffee altogether, with the promise that if they did such, they would be ready for baptism on the 25th. We really saw that to be true. Franklin and Marcio, especially Marcio progressed a TON this week. We can really see a difference in them, even over the course of just a few days.

On Friday, we talked with the boyfriend of a new convert. He also has heard the discussions a lot, and we talked about how the Church of Jesus Christ would help him in ways that his current church simply is not capable.

So Sunday, we had an AWESOME activity called 创Um dia para recordar创(A day to remember). We gave the first lesson over the pulpit, followed by a baptismal invite. Then we presented a slide show of baptism photos from the ward. Then there was a testimony part, were some of the older members talked about their conversion. The take president told about how he was influenced by the example of Tita, a soccer player who is also a member, at the time he played for Flamengo and the Brazilian National Team. Knowing that he could play soccer and be a member of the church, he knew that nothing would get in his way of being baptized. All in all it was an awesome super spiritual activity that we will continue next week. There were about 40 members this week, and I bet each person will bring two or three more people.

So that was my week! I'll talk to the family on Sunday!

Elder Cornwell