March 5, 2012

Hey!

Wow, so you all already know where i am! That is crazy! I am in Túnel Verde, at the bottom of Porto Alegre. It is not that big of a place, but i love it. I have actually already passed a nights here on splits. It is the area right below Ipanema, crazy! But i used to do splits here because it is the area of the zone leaders....suprise!! Ha. Usually President calls an elder to let him know about the new position. But i showed up to the bus station in Porto Alegre with everyone saying congrats! Including Elder Arauju who went home last week. I am way excited and humbled by this opportunity.

Oh Daniel, i am going to miss that guy! And everyone else! The picture with the 2 young men are his brothers. the married couple is Nair and Flavio and with the hot sauce is with my new companion elder Oliveira.

Elder Oliveira was in this same zone when i got on the mission, but i didn´t really know him, and then he was my zone leader in Bagé, so i already know him! He is from Pará. It should  be great working with him.

Wow, Mom, you are just out partying all the time now huh!? I hope you are enjoying club 33 and the most magical place on Earth! Tell Waddie hi and give her a firm handshake :) Are you going to read this on your phone? That would be cool. Just don´t cry in front of all those people....ha!

The baptism of Danusa was great! I am glad you liked the pics! It was a special experience. And yes dad, i was not to eager to leave that ward or area, it was gold, pure gold. ha But hey, why can´t every area be that way! I am quickly falling in love with our area and branch here.

Oh and that was cool that you have already looked up the area, but are you sure that you researched the right place??? I have seen one road here with trees hanging over it and was not as epic as you made it sound...ha. This branch is right below the Ipanema ward, if that will help. The other day at our District/zone meeting i actually got to talk to one of the members from Ipanema, that was way cool. And i don´t think that we have any huge buildings in our area. I will be sure to send another picture of my area with the maps and everything to give you an idea of our exact area. Oh and i got the V-day package and one from Daniel and Liz! Thank you!!! I am loving it. Is that d-land taffy? It is incredible.

The branch here is excellent, i love it. It is full of members that are actively working to improve themselves and this branch. It is so easy to see when a member is doing the things that they need to do and doing their visits every month. We have a family night of our branch every week too. I left a message and we had some great games. Our elders quorumn president is a convert of 8 months that is on fire, his councelor, Fabio, is the man. He served a mission some time ago and is married with a cute little girl. All in all, i am so excited to help turn this branch into a ward, it is so very close.

Dad the picnic in the park activity sounds like it was a giant success. I am so jealous too. I am going to copy the words of the mission president. I want you to bottle up that energy and send it fed ex to our mission. That is so awesome that so many pepole got to see the church like this and meet so many members. Got pics? Just a few.

Well this wednesday we had a meeting at the mission office with President and Sister Swenson, the assistants and all the zone leaders, that was a way good meeting where i learned a lot. When we were leaving it started to rain like crazy. But i got to dry off on the big bus ride :) Friday we had a district meeting and the rest of the time, we are running our tails off working in our area and thinking about how to help our zone!

I will be sure to tell you a whole lot more about the area, members and some new investigators this next week!,Just know that i am keeping busy and loving this!

Love, 

Elder Bradley J. Dawson