May 26, 2010

hello my family! well this week was pretty exciting. i learned quite a bit with the assistant last week. it was a pretty good experience and he was pretty surprised with my teaching and how i work. so i guess that is a good thing. unfortunately, once again there was no baptism in jundiaí. but things will get better now. on sunday, there were some ladies from salt lake that were at church. they work for beehive and don’t talk any portuguese. so guess who had to be the translator?! i have never done something so hard haha. but i felt pretty good about it until i asked how my english is and if they understood. they said they didn’t really understand haha. but i guess that’s alright. who needs english anyways haha. i can just learn it again when i return haha. well the jundiaí zone was pretty crappy this last week. this whole month has been a disapointment! i thought there would be a lot better results. but it will keep getting better. last week, we had a leadership conference over the phone. we were comanded to destroy all the qualification papers and the lesson models. that was quite a surprise. they really helped me to learn and i was surprised to receive the new rule saying that we cant study these things anymore. but oh well i guess. i have got everything in my head and heart already hah. i feel bad for the others, like elder nothum, that finished the qualification the week before haha. but president said that it was like a burnt sacrifice of something that has helped us so much. but on monday, i was transferred. i am now in atibaia. it is right next to itatiba, my first area. so i am close by some of my first memories of the mission. my first exchange was in this area.so it is cool to be working here now. there are tons more baptisms in this area too!! so i was blessed greatly! we will have at least two baptisms this week and could be up to 5. haha so i won some baptisms cuz ididnt have to do anything. i actually was able to interview my own baptisms. to interview a person to be baptized, you cant teach them before. so that was pretty neat haha. her name is liliane and she is very elect!! i have never interviewed someone so elect. she asked if she was ever gonna be interviewed so we said ya i will do it today haha. i also havent ever felt the spirit so strong during an interview. it was pretty good. but my new companion is Elder Ribeiro from Belem. he is a smaller guy and really funny. he reminds me alot of blake! it is pretty fun! my zone is full of crazies!! and for the first time, i am living with another companionship. Elder nothum is living with me and so is elder cavalcante, a brazillian that arrived at the ctm the same day as me. so it is pretty fun. i am liking it so far. i will also be able to pass in my first area. that will be great. my first family is getting close to entering the temple! i will get to go to the sealing! i am way excited!!! but this zone is great. it will be a little harder because i now have two companionships of sisters in my zone. so i will have to be a different kind of leader i guess haha.

ya but that was pretty much my week. it was a pretty good week! and i am really liking my new area. my comp is different from elder mendes but i really like him. it is also nice to have someone else to talk to at night when we get home. i am pretty excited and there are going to be lots of miracles in ATIBAIA!!!!

love,

Elder Long