Birthday!!!! Feliz Aniversário!!!!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone!! Really means a lot! I had a great 20th birthday yesterday! Yesterday was also the holiday of Children´s day here in Brasil! We went to church in the morning, had a ton of investigators there, and visited some great families!! Augusto and his family had gotten some cake and stuff for me which was awesome!! Really grateful for all the many blessings that I have received and for all the loving family and friends I have back home.  

The week went great!! Durin the week I went and did exchanges with the zone leaders so I went to another area for a day. Sobradinho! I loved it up there!  I got to see a wealthier side of Brasil. I had a blast and the missionaries working there are awesome. Had a ton of fun and got to know some great people. For lunch, the family there made a fullout Mexican bbq!! It was sooo good. First time I had guacamole in a year and 2 months!! Que saudades!!!  The family where we ate, are an older couple and have two kids who live in the States so they go and visit often. One of them lives in Lehi, Utah! They were awesome!! It is so great, entering someone’s home for the first time and not knowing them and leaving just a couple hours later feeling like family already!!  Had another experience like that but here in Itapoã this week. Earlier this week I got a call from a member in another city passing a reference to us of a family who lives here in Itapoã. The family is so awesome!! We went over and it was like they were waiting for us! It was Saturday so we got to know them and we invited them to church the next day! They came and loved it. They could feel the difference there. Later on Sunday we taught the message of the Restoration. The Spirit was really strong. Katia (the mom) felt so good and knew it was true. Her kids, Ana Carolina (17 yrs) and Pedro (8yrs) are awesome!! We bonded really fast with that family and already have a lot of love for them. 

We marked 3 more baptism dates this week for November. All of them are solid! Next week is transfers so I think I will probably leave here since I already have 3 transfers here. It will be really hard leaving Itapoã, especially after all the experiences I’ve had here and the people I have come to know and love!  We are teaching this awesome guy named Josemar, who is 20 yrs old and Augusto´s friend. He is mature well beyond his years and has a good head on his shoulders and hilarious. We visited his church with him this week and he came to ours this week. He felt really good and loved the classes. We marked a baptism date with him after church! Before going to lunch, I felt really strong "Go invite Conceição to be baptized."  Conceição´s husband and 14 yr old son are members of the church. She and her two daughters are members of another faith. She always enjoys talking with us and having us over. On Saturday night, we felt inspired and we went over really quick to invite them to all go to church together as a family!! She tried to make a little excuse so I guilt tripped her and told her it was my birthday so she had to go!! :) Sure enough they all did!!  So before lunch, we went by their house real quick and only stayed like 5 minutes. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I remember how strong the Spirit was! I invited her to be baptized on November 30th and she accepted. Then she said, "and You will baptize me!" Fair deal! ha

We also had a zone conference this week with President and Sister Lundgren and our zone. They are so awesome and so grateful to have them as my mission president and sister. They truly love us and want the best for us, and the mission. We are really accelerating the work in our mission and they really want us to get the best out of the mission personally as well.  

So grateful to be here and to be having these experiences. I love y’all so much and thanks again for all the birthday wishes. Really means so much!!  

Much love,

Elder Bean I

All of the Zone except the secretaries and the Assistants.

Elder Lima "my son" after a district meeting

General Conference at the church in Paranoá 

Zone Conference with President and Sister Lundgren

Elder Moreno, he is new on the mission and from Peru.
He's such a stud and makes me laugh constantly!

Me and Elder Omanã, he is from Mexico and returns home this week. He is my zone leader
and I did an exchange with him. He is awesome and has taught me a ton, great example!

Elder Xavier, we are good friends, he is from Rio Grande do Sul (the Texas of Brasil).
 Where he is from most everyone is white and of German descent. 

Cake and Soda for my birthday!!

Walking home after church; Fernandez, Augusto, Me, Josemar and Paulinaria. 
Josemar is Augusto's good friend, he is a solid dude in faith.