Dear Fam,
Wow! That is awesome for Torrin! He will absolutely love it. And I kind of know that you all were over at his house...he sent me a video of him opening his call. Haha. But that is so exciting. It really is something special to here of another friend going on a mission. I will be getting some snail mail off to him soon, that is for sure. Now Torrin, Bentz, Kurt, maybe Erik?, and Parker will be speaking Spanish...and I will be able to understand them! Ha! All the people here say that they can understand Spanish pretty easily...but they can´t understand them. Ha! And Jordan, well we will see. I asked a member and they said they get about 50% of French. It will be neat hearing all of us go off. Thank you for all of those addresses too. It will be way cool to have a little contact with them.
Family dinner sounds like it was quite the party! Something interesting, dinner here is not the big meal; it is nothing more than some bread or cake with a few little things. Really, a tea time. Occasionally we will have dinner with a member but it is rare and usually for a family night. Our meal schedule in the ward is all for lunch. Cool huh! It is official; Amanda is stealing my life, Family dinner again! Ha, joking. I´m glad you all are having fun.
Ha, I was thinking about you all while I was doing yard work too! We helped Irmão Alfonso and Teresa do a bunch of yard work the other day. And you would be proud Dad; Irmão Alfonso wants me to tell you PARABEMS. Because my section of the yard was better than Elder Araújo´s and he wants me to come back in a week to cut the lawn de novo. Also, Mom, Irmã Teresa wants me to tell you PARABEMS because you raised me well. She is being silly, but I promised I would tell you congrats. And Alfonso, not a member...for now, told us that Elder Johnston, baptized his wife and daughter, and some sisters have found a place in his heart, but we have gained a place there too. He is really close to us now and even talks to us about the church now, we have a family night scheduled for tonight with them. And it is true...we had 2 baptisms Saturday! Woo! Ronaldo and Isaías were baptized by Bruno, the shorter one on the left, and Michael, the taller one on the right. They are young men in our ward and Michael is preparing for his mission.
You nailed it Dad, I am being transferred tomorrow. It is actually really sad! I love the people and ward here. I feel like I know it inside and out and will be strange meeting a new ward, but the Lord knows best! I still don´t know where I will be going, but I find out right before I get in the taxi, bus, or shuttle. Elder Araúju and I traded ties and he gave me his Corinthians jersey, it is way cool! I am wearing it in one of the pictures. I told him that he has something to come.... He is a great comp and most importantly he is caring for these people here now. Oh and Sister Michael is being transferred now so we will see if an American gets transferred here to teach English...yikes.
Thanks for getting that package off! It will be a nice surprise and treat to get that. Can´t wait! I have been getting allot of mail...I feel overwhelmed. Ha.
9-11, it has been 10 years already...strange. We saw one thing about 9-11 on the news in the house of a member, they were asking me about it during lunch. All of those poor people. But reflecting on this day, I am so glad I am an American, it really was saved by the hand of God. Possibly the only land with freedom of religion where Joseph Smith could bring forth the restored Gospel. If this had happened in Brasil, the government of the time would have executed him, the government was interrelated with Catholicism then.
Everyone is super busy still?! Good! Just one day at a time and remember to laugh :) every trial is given to us because God knows we are ready and is giving us the opportunity to become more like Him.
Mexico sounds like it was awesome. It sounds like everyone is moving a hundred miles an hour there. Good luck with school and everything over there!
Oh mom, are you still going to open up that restaurant!? Amanda is in the eternal marriage class?! Whoa! Haha, that is awesome. I better be the first to get that invite :) and a resume from the guy.
Ana Paula, 18, Yuri, 19, and João Vitor the baby of 4 months- Yuri is inactive and the brother of Irmã Julianna in our ward. They are not married and we are in the process of getting that moving :) Ana Paula has been reading like crazy and has received her answer; she knows the truth of our message! Yuri still really respects the church and wants to return and raise his son in the church, still has a whole library of books and everything. We will see! Unfortunately I cannot teach them more.
Kevin- He is still loving the messages and now we are moving in on his family. His dad likes that Kevin is doing this and his sister Camille went to church with Kevin Sunday. They loved it! We are teaching him again tomorrow morning...my last lesson before I leave!
Ronaldo and Isaías- They were baptized and confirmed this weekend! Their families were there and loved it; we will be teaching them soon enough I believe...well not me, but other elders.
Laís- We were pretty upfront with her yesterday, she is starting to date Bruno in our ward, and asked her if she was doing this for Bruno or if she is real about this. She laughed because her 2 other friends in our ward ask her the same thing every day. But she really has been reading and praying and received her answer. Her mom is starting to warm up to the idea of her attending our church, but is still pretty stiff.
Vladimir, Karina- We visited them with a recently married couple in our ward-Augusto and Andressa. They are both returned missionaries and it was awesome. Karina has been receiving the lessons from the Jehovah’s Witnesses for a year now and had a paper with scriptures and explanations waiting for us. It was pretty humorous actually. We weren´t contentious and didn´t even look at the paper, Elder Wirthlin´s mom put it best when she said `Come away and love`. But she thought (thought implanted into her by the Jehovah’s Witnesses) that the world was ruled by the devil because he tempts people and even tempted Jesus and brought him to the top of the temple. I showed her that it was not a temptation for food or saving angels at all. But Satan, the great snake, was trying to place doubt in the relationship of the Father and The Son by saying IF you can do this, IF he will save you. IF IF IF. It was great and the spirit was strong. But it is clear to see that Karina is just trying to go back and forth and gain knowledge, not a real desire, So we told her we don´t want to confuse her and com certeza this will just keep going back and forth. We challenged Vladimir to read and pray and try these things...knowing that Karina will not be able to resist. But it was all in all a great lesson and I am going to miss teaching them.
The picture with that big family is Irmão Pedro and his family. Daniele is who he is holding and drew that little picture for me.
Hope you enjoy all the pics! Love you all and love what I am doing.
Elder Bradley J. Dawson
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