Dear Family,

I'm doing great.

We had a shock this week. We found out the Sr. Andrade isn't married yet... so he can't get baptized. I'm so glad that God knew that and didn't let him get baptized.

Me and my companion are great. Our teaching styles have been hard to mix because I talk a lot and my companion doesn't. So I sit there talking a whole bunch with the people and then sometimes my companion just says the closing prayer. I need to calm down a little and give him some space to speak.

The ward is really good too. This last week we had about 102 people in Church. It was way good. I'm really liking this ward and if we ever come back (mom... we'll talk about this afterwards) I'm coming back to this ward for sure just to say hi. One of the members said that if I come back to visit, there are beds in her house for me and others to sleep in during the visit.

The members in this ward help out when they are asked. So we just need to ask them to help. That's it. Generaly we can mark family nights ect... easily, lessons with members too.

I have two favorite families here. One is Edvaldo and Nilda which are actually know as Pai e Mãe (Dad and Mom) by the missionaries. They are always there and help out.

The other is a single mom that works in the food buisness. She does food for big parties so when she needs help with food, we always go and help out a little bit because she does almost everything by her self. She's also less active but she went to church this last week and I'm hoping that she's there to stay. She said that she is not going to mark any more parties for Sundays so that she can go to church and keep the Sabbath Day holy.

You asked what is my favorite food... I actually have no clue. I just eat. I like it when the members make french fries or mashed potatoes. Those are sooooo good. Oh, there is a Brasilian food called Cus-Cuz. It's basically grated corn... I can't explain it. But mom, if you have a steamer at the mission home like one that you put water in the bottom pan and there are holes in another pan that you can put on top so the hot steam can go up through it... I can buy a package of Cus-Cuz and bring it home to make it for you. It's way good and I've heard that you can find it in the states. A missionary who served in Utah said that he made it all the time for the missionaries. So if he made it all the time... I'm sure that it's somewhere in Utah.

My favorite part of missionary is talking with people. I like breaking the ice with people who like to talk, someone who talks back. It's so much easier to break the ice with someone who just likes to talk. I have a hard time making friendships with the people that just answer all your questions with yes's or no's. That is hard.

I will miss the people here. There is no other people I know like Brasilians. No one can compare. I will also miss some of the food that they have here like Cus-Cuz and Açai. Today, me and my companion will probably eat Cus-cuz for lunch with pepperoni and something else like onions and other things.

 

My goals for the next two weeks are:

- Do 70 contacts in a week. I've failed that one... A LOT in my mission. Not because I didn't want to, well sometimes not because I didn't want to, but sometimes I would just forget.

- Baptized Cleide. She's so close to getting baptized. She just needs to make her decision. It's a miracle that she is so close to getting baptized. MIRACLE. I've been here for about 4 months and before that the missionaries had been teaching her. Her sister is a member for 20 years and her daughters for 10 years. Her daughters are probably some of the best, most faithful and diligent Young Women I have ever seen in my life. No joke. So I'm way excited. It's just an exciting thought to think that this woman will finally baptize and will be able to have an eternal family with her children.

 

As Jess said to me in a letter.

"Just think of it as another transfer. Cause really, it is. You'll still be a missionary you'll still have covenants to keep and rules to obey in order to be truly happy in life. And you'll still need to open your mouth all the time. The only differences with this next transfer is 1) you won't be able to wear the name of Christ on the outside of your chest (You've already taken upon yourself is name so you'll still wear it... just not as visibly) and 2) you'll have more responsibilities to juggle on top of being a missionary (school, work, dating... etc). So don't think of it as coming home from your mission where you will come back to how things were. You're getting transfered to a new area where you have to do missionary work while doing homework and finding yourself a permanent companion (sadly there's no mission president here to assign you one). Focus on your investigators and potentials now and you'll be able to better focus on that other stuff your next transfer."

So all in well in Zion.

I love you all and hope all in well in Zion

Endure to the End

Signing Out

Elder Barry