12-8-12 ltr

Amada Família,

Hello once again. I am very well here in Porto Alegre. How are you all? The nieces and nephews are well?? To your surprise, we did not go to Pelotas this week but we did splits in Cachoeira do Sul :) it was very cool! It was the first time that I have gone to Cachoeira do sul and I liked it a lot. The there are 3 branches there and I loved the city. It is excellent for missionary work. We went Thursday morning and came back last  night. During this time I stayed in splits with Elder Cox (zone leader) and Elder Singelo stayed with another missionary helping him because he had already passed through that area. During this short time we were able to find about 7 new investigators and mark baptisms with all of them minus one. It was a pretty good two days :). On Thursday it was ridiculously hot and humid!! I was dripping sweat the whole day. There were gobs of sweat all over my arm to give you an idea of how hot and humid it was, this continued until the minute I went to sleep. Oh and I got burned pretty bad in the sun...I put on sunscreen but I was sweating so much that it didn’t last very long. By the end of the day I looked like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, haha. I think skin cancer will be pretty unavoidable. But to make a long story short, I am here in Porto Alegre safe and sound.  Oh and to answer your question mom, President went to Bage so we went alone by bus.

I wanted to give Ashley a shout out and say Feliz Aniversário! I can not believe that Ash will be 18 here in a few days, that is crazy. Congratulation little sister, you are now a big girl ;) haha

So Daniel gave his first baby blessing!! The first of many! haha.

While you put Christmas decoration up there, we put a strand of lights up in our house, it isn’t a whole lot, but it will do. We are looking for a makeshift tree now. And thank you for the packages :) I am very excited. Can I only open them on Christmas?

Thank you for the school info Dad, I just don’t know my gcc id number or sign in, one day I will have to call them to figure it all out. I am still praying and deciding if I will stay an extra transfer. So far, nothing. I don’t know what I will do. But I will continue to pray.

Zone council this week went well. We taught about weekly planning and the correct way to do it. Oh and Elder Garner is already back in his area for a week. He is doing great.

Tell Fernando congrats for me, and that I want an invite!

No I have not gotten the outline for your mission prep class yet! But I would like to! Who knows, maybe I could give your mission prep class when I get home!? That would be a great calling, well they are all great, but you get the picture. Your next talk on the divinity of Christ? Wow, that is a big subject. I don’t remember what the word is in English but when the Angel is talking with Nephi showing him the life of Christ he asks if he understands the "condescendência" of Christ. Condescendência means to lower yourself from something higher, almost to subject yourself to something beneath you. I like that part. You could send that talk to me when you’re done by the way...I would like to read it :). When I think of the high priest group I can’t help but think about how Alma organized the church back in the day and how the high priests traveled to preach the gospel and were responsible for specific groups...the organization of the church is so perfect, I love it!

This Monday night sister Lucena invited her neighbors and us to a family night at her house. That was way cool! It all started at lunch that they were giving us last week. She is very active and trying to help out. She asked us where all of those chosen people are that are ready to receive the gospel in their lives. As she said that a neighbor kid entered the house and we started to talk to him about the gospel. His parents and himself were the family at the family night Monday night :) it was a very special experience.

Oh and this morning the young men’s president marked an activity where we showed everyone how to do contacts in the street and then...everyone hit the street running! In my group there was Pedro, his girlfriend and two women and I.  I did the first few contacts and then helped them do 2 contacts and then the three young women went crazy! They started talking to everyone! They were so happy; I was amazed at the spirit that was radiating from those members that were participating. When we got back to the mission office everyone shared a neat experience. These members were hooked on sharing the gospel, they all asked for several Book of Mormons, Christmas DVDs, and pass-along cards. Let’s see what happens :)

I think that would be a great activity in our ward, obviously not with everyone. But ask for a group, go to a certain local, lets say Thunderbird park, and go! Especially the youth, they would love it! Maybe they would be a little scared at the beginning, but they would get the hang of it very very fast and will not want to stop after.

Well fambly, I love you all and I remember you in my prayers :)

Elder Bradley Joseph Dawson