Elder Lofton Q Bean : The Daily Experiences That We Have Here Are So Awesome!!

This week is the last week of the transfers!! So next Sunday night we will know if we are staying or leaving Itapoã! It is really hard for me thinking that this might be my last week here in this area. I have grown to love the area and the people here so much, it will be so hard to leave. Me and Elder Fernandez are both hoping that I stay here! I’m sure Elder Fernandez will stay for sure since this is his first transfer in Itapoã! We have really enjoyed workin together, its been such a blast. A ton of fun and hard work!

I still remember my first week here in Itapoã. It was really hard and I had just left Gama. I was missing Gama and the people there and I really wanted to go back. But i have been blessed so much here and learned a ton, and have grown to love this area and the people so much.

Yesterday at church was one of the highlights of the week, we had 13 investigators in church!!! It was awesome to see every one of them come in. We had the first 3 rows in the middle section full of just our investigators!! Me and Fernandez were so pumped and glad to see the "fruits of our labors" and our hard work paying off. We will be having 4 baptisms next Sunday!! Each of them are from different families. Paulinária (a contact we did in the street), Pollyana (Augusto´s sister), Carol (Pollyana´s friend), and Diego. Diego´s mom really really wants to get baptised as well. So does his dad but they have to get married first. But there family is awesome and really supportive. We had 10 people marked to get baptised this next Sunday, but the other six still aren’t ready so they will get baptised hopefully next transfer.

Raimundo and Ivaneide are doing great. Raimundo brought Ivaneide and two of her daughters and one of their boyfriends to church (Antonio). We have been teaching Antonio as well and preparing him to be baptised, hes a stud!

So I don’t know how getting married works in the States, but here you have to go to a "cartorio" (like a registry office or somethign) and get registered. Then you have to wait 30-40 days before you can actually get married. But it is a hassle to get all the paperwork together. So this week we went to the cartorio with Raimundo and Ivaneide to get them setup so they can get married. We went cause you need two witnesses and their signatures. We felt honored. :) ha. So the first time we go, they were missing a document. So the next day, we go again! This time all is going perfect until she asks me to show my identification to be a witness. I happily gave her my Texas Driver´s license. Yeah.. then goes on and says that I have to have a passport. Just to sign a piece of paper, they wanted to see my passport and passport number. (which I don’t have since the mission hangs onto them so we don’t lose it or get it stolen). I got a little annoyed and tried to work a way around it but the lady wouldn’t budge. Guess my Texas driver´s license doesn’t prove that I exist to them.

It was tough that both the times didn’t work out, I felt bad for Raimundo and Ivaneide. but this week they will hopefully find time off work to go and do it, with Brasilian witnesses.

But other than that, this week was awesome and we found a bunch of new people!! Two of the new people we found are Maltida and Solimar. So we visited with Valdirene and Raimundo this week again. She is super awesome, this time we show up and she had invited some of her other catholic friends to get to know us and hear our message! it was awesome. It was hilarious cause they are a total gossip group. haha. They are hilarious! They have marked days they get together, have their coffee and just talk for hours. and they all live on the same street! But they really liked us and the message we shared. We were able to mark a return visit, to visit with them later in the week in their houses with their families. Valdirene is super awesome, she is givin us a bunch of references and tellin us of all the people she wants us to go visit and help! We had a great lesson with Maltida and her family when we went over there. She has been seriously reading the Book of Mormon (had really in depth questions and answers about it) and asked for another copy to give a to a family friend, to give to her son who is in prison. We also taught Solimar again and her family and marked a baptism date for the end of September with Solimar.

The daily experiences that we have here are so awesome!! Every day brings something new and throughout the day you always have an experience that makes you think "I've got to write that down when I get back home so I won’t forget it." I love this work and helping others everyday! One thing Noah mentioned to me was bout how unbelievably happy he is! I am so glad to see that and it is so true. Throughout the day, even when the sun is killer hot and it is super dry ( has less than 20% humidity here right now) we still enjoy it and enjoy talking with and teaching the people we have grown to really love.

espero que tudo estejam bem com vocês e tenham uma ótima semana!!!

Abraço, te amo

Elder Bean