16 January 2017

Boa tarde! it is a good birthday! my companion made me a cake and we celebrated in the chapel with our district and hot dogs brazilian style. i also got the package from you guys thanks so much! i haven´t gotten to read the cards yet but we used the balloons to celebrate in the chapel. I hope you re all doing well and having a good start to the new year in all of your activities. 

This was a good week. Felipe will be baptized this saturday, he is so great it got the the point where he conducts the lessons witht the prayer and hymn and guesses (correctly) what will ber the next thing we will teach. Jennifer will also be abptized this satuday, a 16 year old girl who is dating a guy in the ward that just got his mission call to Manaus, Brasil! she has been going to church for a year but just this week her dad finally signed the form for her baptism. We also ahev other reall great investigators including Paulina, an older lady whose Husband has Alzheimers so it si hard for her to go to church right now, and Thaís that is a 21 year old girl that has a lot of questions and interest. The work is going well!

A little message this week is based on a mormon video that we have been sharing with people this week about a bush that was big and beautiful , but did not produce fruit. The gardener cut down the bush to the roots and the bush seems to cry saying`` why did you do that to me, I was doing so big and beautiful and now look at me, i am just a stump´´ but then that bush grew again into a big beautiful bush that produced a lot of fruit. I think it is a great analogy for our lives. We may be content with how we are and not want to accept new challenges in our lives, but God (the gardner) knows we will later be even better and produce more ``fruit´´ than before. 

Have a great week!