Good Morning Everybody!  It is the 27^th of May, 2013, which means it is officially 22 months since I have been on the mission.   OOOH!  Its 6:30 in the morning, I am still waking up, but that’s okay.  Today is Monday, transfer day, in President Prudenche.  I will find out at about 11:00 if I am getting transferred or not, and if my companion is getting transferred or not.  It has gotten relatively cold here for being Brazil, here in Prudenche.  I wear sweaters and stuff.  And, it rains a lot now.  So, its kind of feeling like Pittsburgh, which I like a lot. 

I was with another American elder, who is from Utah, who is brand new on the mission for about four days this week.  His name is Elder Delgado.  He is from American Fork, Utah.  And, my companion went to his area, another city called Azvala Cruz (?).  He stayed there for four days to help them try to find people and stuff.  So, he did that and I stayed here in my area with Elder Delgado.  And, so, he’s really cool.  We actually knew each other beforehand, so we are actually good friends.  We stayed together in Division for four days.  Why I am saying this is because he asked me how Pittsburgh is, and I started telling him about Pittsburgh.  I told him all the stuff, like about the Strip, how Pittsburgh is, the tunnels and bridges, all the stuff, and how its really nice, and how there’s a lot of trees.  That made me miss Pittsburgh.  That’s okay, though.  I mean, it didn’t effect me or anything, but, you know that I miss Pittsburgh, and I hope that one of us lives in Pittsburgh for the rest of our lives, and we can always have a reason to go back. 

Anyways, I want to start off this voice recording telling you what could be one of the best mission stories that I have.  One of the best stories that I have in my mission.  So, there’s this man named Klebber.  And, we have been teaching him for over a month now.  He works with maintenance and industrial machines: The big industrial, factory machines.  The way his work schedule is set out, he works 6 Sundays, then he doesn’t work 2 Sundays.  So, he is only able to go to church, twice every two months.  Maybe two times every month and a half.  So he went to church once, and he loved church.   And, he felt like he had a response that the book of mormon is true, the church is true.  He is the best investigator that we have, only in the last four weeks he hasn’t been able to go to church because he has to work.  Every Sunday, he would say, ‘no, I have to work.  I really want to go to church, but I have to work.’  He told us, ‘as soon as I can come to church, I am going to bring my whole family with me too.’  ‘Cause he went once, and he really liked it.  So, my companion wanted to cut him, because he never goes to  church.  But, he’s a really really good investigator.  Whenever we go to his house, we ask, “Is there anything we can do to help you?”  He’s like, “just keep coming, please.”   And, so, two Fridays ago, we passed by his house, and he started to notice that we were passing by a little bit less.  We were passing by on a weekly or a bi-weekly basis, because we knew he wasn’t going to go to church.  So, he’s like, “please don’t give up on me.  I am really trying.”   And, that is something that investigators never say.   So, me and another missionary, who is not my companion, we taught him ‘the Sabbath day’, and we shared with him one of the most over-rated scriptures that there is.  1 Nephi 3:7.   I was like, ‘the Lord never gives a commandment without a way for you to do it.   The Lord will give you a way, so you can go to church on Sundays.’   So, that happened, and we left on Friday, and we came back on Wednesday.   So, we came back in the afternoon, and he was there.  We thought it was one of his days off.  He was totally calm, and a lot less stressed than he usually is.  He is really stressful with his work.  So, we show up, and we are having a conversation, “hey, how are things going?’ and I was like, ‘so, is today one of your days off?’  So, he goes on to explain, ‘Well, about that,’ and this is what he said happened.  He asked to get released from his work.  So, they released him, and because they released him, and he didn’t get fired, he going to get 6 months of unemployment.  He has been working at that job for about 7 years.  So, he was like, ‘ yeah, I got released from my job, I asked to get released.’  I was like, Woa!.  He was like, ‘yeah, I am going to get six months of unemployment, I am going to work something small on the side.  I will be able to take it easy for a while.’  I was like, ‘wow , that’s really interesting.’  We kept talking about it, and his decision and stuff.  And after a couple minutes I was like, ‘Wow, that really means that your’re going to be able to go to church, right?’  And, then he responded, ‘No, that’s the reason why.’  He said that after we left on Friday, and we left that scripture (he was referring to 1 Nephi 3:7) After you left that scripture, it just kept coming into my head that the Lord would make a way.  So, I just felt like I could do this, I could get released from my job, I could go to church every Sunday, and then during these next six months where I am getting unemployment, I will find another job, where I will not have to work on Saturday and Sunday, so I can go to church every week.  So, he’s like the man of the house in his family.  So basically, he left his work, which he has been working at for seven years, just so that he can start going to church.  He has only been to church once.  So, I was like, crazy I was so happy.  He knew I was going to go nuts to, so he was being all sly about it.  But, its seriously one of the best stories I have had on my mission.  So, now his entire family is going to go with him this week, and he is just going to keep following.  ‘Cause we knew he had a testimony and everything, he just needed to go to church.  That’s definitely one of the better stories I am going to have on my mission, cause he made the sacrifice in order to be able to go to church.  He had the step of faith, you know, cause he had to ask to be realeased from his job.  And, they decided to release him nicely, with unemployment and everything.  Now, he’s going to be able to relax a lot.  Also, he smokes.  When we met him, he was smoking one pack of cigarettes every day.  At this point he managed to get it down to like, six or seven.  But, he would always tell us, ‘the more stressed I get, the more I smoke, so I just need to be less stressed.’  And, his job was really stressful.  So, when we went there, I said, ‘so its going to help you with smoking too, right? Because, you will not be stressed or anything!’   And, he was like, ‘yeah, I don’t even know if I have smoked yet, I can’t remember.  Cause he doesn’t really do anything any more, he kind of hangs out, and takes care of the family.  Because, his wife also has a little tiny salon behind their house.  So, they’re going to get money from that, from his unemployment, and from his little, on-the-side stuff.  So, he’s basically awesome!  So, that was the best story ever this week. 

Other than that things have been going really well.  Like, I said, I stayed with another missionary, Elder Delgado for like, the whole week.  He is pretty fun, he’s a new missionary, so we were able to become good friends and stuff. 

Today starts my second to last transfer on the mission.  That’s ridiculous.  If I hadn’t extended my mission, this would be my last transfer.  That’s even more ridiculous.  Is weird cause I want to go home and see you guys and everything, but I want to serve the mission more. 

I really like going to the small cities.  There are always these little small cities where the missionaries are at, in every zone of the mission.  My dream since the beginning of the mission is to be able to go to one of these small cities.  I could just work there, and have the whole city to myself.  That’s never been able to work out ‘cause I have always been in the big cities and stuff.  So, I got to work in a really small city called, Azvoldu Cruz (?) , and Ada Monchina.  Which means little diamond.  Like, little diamond mine.  That’s how you would say it.  And, its just been some really neat experiences, ‘cause I have been traveling a lot. 

What else is going on….  That’s basically it.  Oh, yeah, I had my birthday.  That was alright.  I have been traveling a lot.  So, you will have to forgive me on the traveling expenses.  But, I think, because I should be getting my reimbursements and stuff, I think I won’t have to use any more of our money.  I’m really going to try and not use our money.  Woo! 

That’s basically all I have for this week.  I know its what the Lord wants, not what I want, but, if the Lord wants it in any way, shape or form, I would love a new companion.  He he ha ha.  We never fight or anything, but if He wants me to keep polishing my patience, I guess we can stay together a third transfer.  But, if He feels like I’ve reached a point that is good enough for Him, for now, then, maybe I can get a new companion.  But, the thing is too about the mission, is that every transfer is better, and faster, but its also harder.  So, I think, ‘it will be interesting to have a new companion’ but I am pretty sure that whatever happens, the bar is just going to get raised a little more.  Its just going to get a little bit harder with whatever the Lord decides to throw at us.  But, our zone is going really well.  This month, we broke the record in this zone, for baptisms.  This zone has never had as many baptisms in a month as they have had here.  Like I said when I was getting transferred here, this is the hardest place in the mission, but our zone had the most success out of any other zone this month.  The missionaries are really working hard, and they are really getting blessed.  Everyone is being really obedient, at least is seems to me, and working hard.  Its not all about numbers, but just the fact that the Lord is really blessing the missionaries and stuff with people that are willing to accept the gospel and everything. 

So its going really well.  That’s basically this sound clip. I love you guys!  If I remember anything else I will throw it in the email real quick.  I hope you have a good week.  Happy birthday Joseph!  Woo! And, I will talk to you guys later, bye!

(in the email): alright! im getting transferred... my last area on the mission! bauru. its in são paulo still, i will be traveling tomororw. i already send the sound clips! but i will send some more later today, ill come back to write and all, i just had to get the transfter info right now. ok!