Conference!

This week was quite a good one! I don´t have a lot of time left, so this´ll be kinda short but I´ll try to get you updated on everything! So on P-Day, we went to this rice farm outside of the city. It´s owned by a member and her non member husband, so they invited us to spend the day with him. I´ll send pictures next week, but it was really quite cool. They have this huge man made lake, and miles and miles of rice fields. He took us around in his tractor to give us a tour of the farm, showed us all his animals, showed us his guns - it felt like I was in America again! Haha guns aren´t quite a common thing here in Brazil. But it was a really fun day, and at the end we had a family night with them and began to teach her husband. He really liked us and the message and everything so we´ll see what happens!

We spend a lot of our time this week searching out inactive members with the ward roster. A lot of people on the list have moved, or died, or don´t even exist haha. So it leads to a lot of investigators living in the houses of these people which leads to lots of new families! We found a 11 year old girl that hasn´t been baptized yet whose parents are less active members. She´s already been to church a bunch and came to Stake Conference this weekend! So now we just have to teach and baptize! We also found a few other really good investigators so that´s great.

Conference was awesome this week! Elder Cruz, an area seventy presided and it was a really special conference. He´s a really great speaker, and gave some powerful, spiritual talks. The stake has been struggling a lot lately, and really needs a lot of help, so hopefully this conference woke up the members a little bit! If the frequency doesn´t get better soon, it looks like Alegrete might become a district, so we´ve got lots of work to do. Hopefully I can stay another transfer here to help out a little bit more, but who knows? A member invited one of his work buddies to the conference, and they came! We started conversing with them and found out they are legally married!!! It´s a miracle! They seem like a great family, and tonight we set up a family night with them and the member. A young woman of the ward also brought one of her friends who we´ll start teaching hopefully this week. So things are looking up! 

Shout out to Esther Olsen and the Foothill Ward beehives!!! Nothing beats some good ol American candy - especially those carmel apple pops! Thanks! I also got the ward newsletter, which was basically the highlight of my week. I love seeing all the updates in the ward! So thanks Brother and Sister Jensen!

Sorry this is so short, but I love you all! God loves you, don´t forget that. The gospel is the only thing that matters in this short life, and we have to make the most of every before we don´t have any left! I pray for you all every day, and can´t wait to see you again here in a little bit. Have a wonderful week, and send some of the cold weather down here! I´m already sick of 100 degree weather!!! 

Love,

Elder Weight 

December 1 Pics

Baptism of Marcos! 

Some of my favorite people in the world right now - Marcos, Graziele and Suehelen!

Awwwwww - They´re officially married!

We´re getting festive here in Alegrete!

I´m a true gaúcho now...

Weight and Pereira sang as they walked and walked and walked

And walked and walked and walked and walked and walked aaaaaaaaand walked. Seriously, I don´t think I´ve ever walked so much in my life. And it didn´t help that it was 95+ degrees all week. But with hard work, comes great rewards, and man was the reward great! Marcos and Graziele got married on Friday and Marcos was baptized on Saturday!!! Finally, right? I think I´ve been telling y'all about them for about 3 months now but it all went so well! We made cute little invites for them last week, and helped them deliver all of them to the ward members and their friends and family this week. We also had to go to the wedding registry with them to get the papers all ready and pay for everything, but it all worked out just great. There were about 80 people at the wedding, which was more than I expected. We found a suit for Marcos this week from a member, and he was looking pretty spiffy if you ask me. He was so happy, but so nervous as well haha. When he went to put the ring on her finger he dropped it and spent about 30 seconds on the floor trying to pick it up. It was pretty funny. It turned out great though, we had lots of fruit and salgadinhos (little salties, kinda like mini pastries) and soda and cake. Oh yeah, this was the thrid wedding I´ve played piano at, so that´s pretty cool i guess! I think I´m the offical Alegrete Stake Pianist, because I play every week in my ward and now they´ve asked me to play at Stake Conference this weekend. So thanks Mom, for forcing me through all those piano lessons cause it really payed off!!!

So then his baptism was on Saturday. He chose me to baptize me which was really special. I really think I was sent here to baptize him. I remember the first time I taught him I invited him to be baptized, and he said yes without hesitiation. I had a feeling at that moment I would be able to see his baptism, even with all the marraige complications. So for the big day to finally arrive was a special day for me. The baptism was very small and simple, but the spirit was very strong. Marcos has the most contagious smile, and he was just shining of happiness, it was wonderful. They truly are a special couple, and I can´t wait to see them go through the temple in one year! It will be a great day.

So other than that, nothing too exciting happened this week. Oh yeah! Thanksgiving! So we couldn´t really have a full on thanksgiving feast due to a lack of funds, time, and food options, but we did have our own little celebration! We bought some chickens (turkey is extremely expensive), mashed potatoes, rolls, juice and brownies and cooked it all up that night. We went around the table and talked of the things we are thankful for, just like Mom loves it. It wasn´t close to the same as being with the family, but it´s better than nothing right? And it´s the last one ever with out y'all!!! I was really missing the whole turkey bowl part haha!

I have to get going, but I love you all! Happy December!!! I´ll talk to you Monday!!!

Love,

Elder Weight

November Pics #2

   There´s nothing better than a southern brazillian churrasco. 

Elder Cotrim´s last visit with Julia :(

We like pizza. A little bit...especially with our matching zone shirts!

Dionatan and Daiane finally got married!!! 

We take selfies at weddings. 

Zona Alegrete! The best zone in the mish!

Summer. . .

It´s beginning to look a lot like...summer. Afraid to say that it seems as though winter has officialy gone away and summer has arrived. It was a good week, but it was a hot one. We´re hoping and praying for some rain this week, so we´ll see what happens! 

Anyway, we had a wonderful week! I did a division with Elder McArthur, my zone leader this week and it was pretty adventurous. We were walking in the street, and this old lady called us over from her house and asked for a pamphlet. We went into her house and pulled out the pamphlet of the restoration, but she said she already had it. I then just pulled out the next pamphlet in my folder and it turned out to be the law of chastity. She grabbed it out of my hand and said "Oooh a new one! Thanks!" Haha then we started teaching her and she began to tell us about how she re-wrote the book of Revalation, because she didn´t like how everyone died in the book, so she re translated it so that everyone lives. Then she showed us a painting she had of Noah´s ark and began to desribe how she likes the painting, but that she doesn´t like Noah, because he lived in Israel, and Israel keeps trying to destroy the world. It´s a miracle that Elder McArthur and I didn´t start laughing, cause we were both pretty close. Oh the joys of missionary work.

We spent a lot of time this week preparing for Marcos and Grazielle´s wedding this weekend. We made invites, found a suit, planned the food/decorations, taught him the rest of the lessons, went to the register´s office, and lots of other stuff, so we were pretty busy. But through all this, we were able to find a few new investigators to teach, including a kid named Leomir who is a friend of a less active in our ward. We are helping him come back to church, and we´re bringing his friend along with him! We´re also trying to help his parents get married, but first his dad has to divorce his first wife. But they finally got everything worked out, and January they will offically be divorced. I´m hoping I´m still here to help them with their wedding in January!!! Other than that, nothing too exciting happened! My companion is great, we´re working hard and NOT getting trunky!!! I´m happy with my life and everything is just grand. I continue to feel the spirit testify through me each and everyday, and I know without a doubt these things I teach are true. As I tell people everytime I bear my testimony - "I did not leave my family, studies, work, and friends just to hang out, learn a language and meet new people - I came because I know and I want everyone on this earth to know these things are true. I want everyone to have an eternal family just like me, because there is nothing that brings me more happiness than this.

I love you all! Have a wonderful Thansgiving! I´m so grateful to have each one of you in my life. I don´t know where I would be without y'all, and will be forever grateful for all you have done and continue to do for me. I miss you so incredibly much, but I´ll be home before you know it! 

Love,

Elder Weight

Julia's Baptism!

Staying in Alegrete

So first things first, I will be staying here in Alegrete for another transfer! I was really suprised and thought I would be transferred, because I´ve never stayed more than two transfers in one area. But I´m so glad I get to stay more time here! We have a lot of work to do, and a lot of people to baptize! Now the sad part: my companion will be transferred to Santa Maria to train. I thought for sure he would stay, so that was a huge suprise. But he is an amazing elder and will be an awesome trainer. It´ll be sad to say goodbye to him, but hopefully he´ll still be in Santa Maria when you come pick me up Mom and Dad!!!

So this week was wonderful. Julia was baptized on Saturday!!! It was one of the most spiritual baptisms I´ve ever seen, it was amazing. Her entire family came, her 4 brothers and sisters and parents who all live near Porto Alegre. They are such a great family, and it was so cool to see them all together. You can tell that each one of them has a testimony, but has fallen away from the church each for thier own reasons. Elder Cotrim baptized her, and afterward, she threw her arms around her neck and was so incredibly happy. We both bore our testimonies after the baptism, everyone full of tears, and then one of her brothers went up and talked about how not going on his mission was one of the worst decisions he has ever made in his life, but that he was so happy to be able to see his family completed and that he would do everything he could to get out on a mission. We ate lunch with them after the baptism, shared a bunch of laughs together, and I will never forget how happy I was that day, to see a family reunited at church and to see the most perfect little girl baptized. I wish you could all meet her, because she is the most adorable little thing ever. Sunday she asked me to confirm her, and it was yet another spiritual experience. I was crying throughout the entire sacrament meeting just thinking about how lucky I am to be serving a mission, to have these amazing experiences and to meet these wonderful people. I will never forget all of the things I have done and people I have met here and I am so incredibly grateful to my Heavenly Father to have given me the chance to be here. I love this church, I love this gospel, I love my family and I love my Father in Heaven. These truly are the only things that matter in this life, and everything else is just extra.

We had three other investigators at church as well, and hopefully all 3 will be baptized this month! One is for sure, Marcos on the 29th. Another, Maria Mafalda, is an old lady who needs to get married or move out, but she doesn´t want to get married so we´re trying to find a place for her to move. And the other is Marilene, her son is on a mission and she has never really shown interest in being baptized until this Sunday. She was really touched by everything and told us she would think and pray about being baptized before her son comes home so they can go to the temple when he gets back. It was quite amazing that she actually came and felt such a desire.

So that´s about the best part of my week. Yesterday I got sick out of nothing and almost passed out in the street, but I made it home, drank a lot of water and rested a bit. I´m feeling much better now and I´m ready for a new week, a new companion and new week! I can´t wait to dig in these last few transfers and see more miracles in my mission. I love you all so much and hope everything is well. Send some of those snow flurries down here, I´m dying of heat!!! Loves!!!

Love,

Elder Weight