#Ipiranga

Dear family,

Well, this week has been crazy. Remember how last week I was staying in Santa Maria and everything was roses and butterflies? Well, we got a call Monday, the night before transfers and they told us we would be in the Ipiranga ward. I guess President changed his mind last second for some odd reason...don´t ask me. The ipiranga ward is right next to the santa maria ward, but we´re still living in the santa maria ward. So now it takes about 30 minutes to walk to our area and another 30 minutes to walk to the end of our area. It makes things a bit difficult. Anyway, Wednesday we had our first lunch but afterward we had pretty much nothing to do. The sisters there before us left a couple investigators but they weren´t home/didn´t want to talk to us. So we got our ward roster out and started searching for members using our map. It was not very effective haha. So then we just started making contacts, just talking to a bunch of people which helped. We found a couple interested people and this week we´re gonna look for a bunch more. 

So then, Thursday, we´re walking and we´re inches away from being hit by a bus. My companion pushed me out of the way but doing so, got his food stuck in a gutter and sprained his ankle. Just another addition to our predicament haha. Luckily it wasn´t too bad so we made it back to the house and got some ice for him. Other than that though, the week was pretty good! It´s always tough to get to know a new area, all the members in the ward, and everything like that, but this ward is great. It has a lot more young people, a lot of return missionaries and stuff like that. They´ve only had sisters in the ward forever, so they all seem excited to finally have elders. 

WE had a meeting with the Bishop sunday after church, and he is just the greatest. He is only 27 years old with 2 kids and has already been bishop for 3 years. He served a mission so he really knows how to help us with our work. He shared this scripture with us which really helped me with stuff that has been going on lately:

D+C 58:16 Behold his mission is given unto him, and it shall not be given again.

I´m not going to lie to you and tell you I´ve been the most perfect missionary. To be honest, I´ve been getting pretty lazy with obedience and the work and just everything. But he shared this scripture and I remembered why i´m here. I´m not here to help myself, I´m here for a purpose and that purpose is to help others. I´ll never have this opportunity of full time service like this ever again, so I need to make the most of it. I am so excited to get to work in this area and to improve. I know that God lives and that he loves us. When we mess up and make mistakes, he is not mad as long as we get back up. That is the most important thing about this life - getting back up. So don´t get discouraged and just keep pressing forward! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Elder Weight