Bom Dia!
I hope you all had a good week! It's been crazy for me with all the change that's been going on. New companion, new Elder's in the house, etc. First of all, let me apologize about saying my companion was Elder Mendes. The transfer slide has his name and his picture, but then I got a phone call later in the day saying I was getting Elder Andrade. I'm still not sure exactly what happened... But the point is I have Elder Andrade as my new companion.
Elder Andrade is from Cape Verde though as well. But he actually speaks english pretty well! I was surprised. I was looking forward to speaking just Portuguese with him, but we pretty much do that anyway I guess. Our area is UNREAL. I was super nervous to show the area, but it went really well! We have unbelievable investigators that are progressing nicely. Some families we are just waiting on getting married before baptism. Many people that are "married" aren't married legally. But we're making progress! And we're finding families that are legally married. For example, Octavio and Candida. They are a great family and have been coming to church as well. The are EATING UP the gospel. It's so cool. I could see all 6 of them getting baptized soon. We have a family getting baptized on the 29th. Jazila and her daughter Joyce. We've done family home evenings over at their house with the Osborn's, and Jazila is so ready to be baptized it's crazy. She's been ready for awhile. She just wanted to make sure for certain. And we helped her realize that she is ready! So I'm excited for that. The families baptisms will start snowballing pretty soon.
Me and Elder Andrade get along great. He was a little shy the first few days, but everyone's a little shy around someone new for awhile. He's been on the mission about a year I believe. It's a good opprotunity for me to grow in the language by leading lessons Elder Andrade is still getting to know the people we teach. But me and Elder Andrade are already starting to get in a rythmn. We're getting some serious work done. It's a lot easier then in the past now that I can understand everything people are saying to me and can respond intelligently. I feel a lot more efficient now that I can communicate with everyone. Such a blessing.
Yesterday was a good day cause almost every single one of our progressing investigators came to church. Except for one... which was sad. We went out a little early and walked with some people to church so that they wouldn't forget. And we had a really good turnout yesterday! Except yesterday after church was hard after some difficult lessons. We ran into this house and realized we had never talked with anyone there, so we decided to go for it. It ended up, the guy was married legally and everything! And he definitely knew the Bible very well. Right away, he started "bible bashing" with us. It was such a joke. I had a feeling we should get out of there asap, but we were probably there a little longer than we should've been. The Spirit is never there in those types of settings, and so now I know to leave those situations right away. But we did find some other people yesterday to teach, so that was good! I also saw a monkey yesterday! Super sweet. We were actually in an apartment complex, and we saw a big monkey climbing around on some bars! I don't know how it got there, but it was super cool! We also saw a HUGE bat the was dead in the road. It's tough to see animals when we're in the city part, but still cool!
Like I said, I hope everything at home is going well! New job, school, play, church, work, etc. I love hearing about what's going on back home and that everyone is doing good.
As for me, I'm doing SO GOOD. I'm so happy here. I've really learned some qualities that I have that I never really realized. Before my mission I thought everyone was an "idiot." Haha. But I really grown to love others, and I love serving. I always look for ways to serve other Elder's in the house. When I'm serving and putting others first, I'm happy. That's an important thing I've learned. I love this work, the people, MY AREA, and I never wanna leave Quelimane. I know this is where I'm supposed to be and I'm so blessed to be here.
I hope you all have a wonderful week, and don't forget to read your scriptures! Reading is not fun, but there is a difference between reading, and studying the scriptures. Dig in deep! There is such good stuff in there. Each verse has many different things we can apply to our lives. So grateful for the Book of Mormon. Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Williams
