Hey folks! like always, I dont have alot of time today, since I was transfered out of nowhere! We recieved the call that I was being transfered on Sunday before church, so as soon as church was over I had to pack, say good bye to members and invesigators and then it was off to Londrina. I´m serving in the city, and it´s so different than the country. There in Jacare I could look around and know I was in Brasil, but here in Londrina, it feels like Houston. There´s a Wal-Mart, a Mcdonalds, Pizza hut. My new comp is Elder Rodriguez. He´s from California, and he´s cool so far. We like pretty much all of the same things, so at least we shouldnt be butting heads about the fact that Madonna sucks. I´m staying with the zone leaders in this little tiny house, which makes me happy. It´s a good setup, and with the zl´s always around we´ll have some help. We´re splitting an area with them, and we´re still getting everything squared away right now. So far, I love Londrina, I love the members, and we´ve got a TON of people to teach. Yesterday I went on splits with one of the ZL´s to teach this one woman. We had a member come with us, and after we got done with the lesson, her daughter comes home. To make a long story short, she sings and plays the guitar in a band that plays music very similar to one of my favorite artists, Cat Power (you should look her up, she´s awesome. I recomend "The Greatest"). So, the requirements for "Wife:Celestial type" just got a little more stringent. I have got to have a wife that sings. I dont know why I´m telling you this, other than maybe there´s some lucky lady out there that just might stumble on my blog and see my picture...
But on to the Good Stuff.
We went around finding all of the inactive members yesterday. A popular excuse here in Londrina is "they moved" or, "I dont live here, I live in a completely different state". Everybody said that yesterday. But, we found this one chick, who is sooo cool. Her name is Luciana, and she was baptized about 3 years ago. She hasnt been to church a whole bunch for certain reasons, but she was so receptive. She remebered everything about what we were talking about, and she´s going to start coming back to church. At the end, she even offered to pray, which suprised me and Elder Rodriguez. I know it dosent sound special to other people, but it´s extremely rare that someone actually offers to pray, and then prays for the Elders while they´re at it. Seriously, Londrina is like Heaven compared to Jacarezinho. But! I´m grateful for the opportunity to learn what a..... not as good area is so I can value a good area. When the Branch President of Jac. found out I was leaving and a new Elder was coming, the first thing he asked Elder Barbosa is "Does he speak better than Elder Standard?" And then, when I´m having lunch with the members here, they percieved very quickly that I wasnt the worlds best at portuguese, but they were so patient. "Dont worry about it, you´ll learn here" was what the said. I know this stuff seems simple, but it makes me so happy. I´m easy to please now. Honestly. Back home, a new gun, or 1000 rounds of ammo, and I´d be happy. Dude, here, give me some new socks. Give me a Twix (they dont have them everywhere here) and I´m happy. I´m not anywhere close to where I want to be as a person yet, but I´m happy of the steps that I´m making. Most of the stuff back that I did back home, it dosent excite me like it used to. Maybe that´ll change when I return, but it´s a friggin blessing right now. Thanks for all of the emails so far. Thanks for all of the help. I love you all. The Gospel is true, It´s been restored! We have a Prophet today that talks with God, so we dont have to worry about the future. That is such a blessing. When the rest of the world is freaking out about the future, we can remain faithful and calm for what lies ahead. God loves us, and He cares for each and every one of you. The Book of Mormon is true. I just got done reading it again, and I promise you in the name Christ that it´s true. I know these things to be true by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Stay Classy,
Elder Standard
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