Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Hi family and friends! How are you? Is it starting to get cold in the states? I only ask that because its starting to get hot here! This week was ridiculous with the weather. On Sunday it started raining. It rained so hard that the water drops hurt if they hit your face! It didnt stop all night. Than when I woke up, it was raining! It never stopped, than Tuesday it rained! Finally on Wednesday, for the first time in half a week.. the rain stopped. Phew!! I was so worried that Brazil was going to be flooded then become part of the Ocean or something it was unbelievable. On the bright side, all rain storms have an end, and its usually a pretty ending! The rest of the week has been so pretty with a slight breeze and the sun. Perfect. We have been working so extremely hard this week and its starting to pay off! We are receiving so many new investigators and are teaching many lessons. This is going to be a great transfer.

I will tell you about some investigators of ours. First there is Linda. Linda is a 16 year old girl who was inspired to go to our branch birthday party. At the party I talked to her and got her address! The next day she showed up at church! Wahoo! We went to her house excited to teach her about the Gospel. When we arrived there we were able to meet her 3 brothers who also wanted to know about the church! Bah, that was a great little surprise. One brother is 18, i dont remember his name because its extremely hard for me to pronounce let alone remember. The other two brothers are 12. This Friday we went there to talk to their mother primarily to let her know what we do and what her kids will be doing in our church. Of course we invited her to take the lessons as well. She will be hard to teach and progress because she works on Sunday but I have faith that all will be well!

Here is another great story. I dont know if I have told this or not.. but ill tell it again. A week or two ago we were on our way to a members house. We get to the front and clap at their door.(We clap because every house has a gate and we cant reach the door.) All of a sudden a lady and her son walk up. The lady says, ``My son wants to know what you guys do!`` I almost laughed because that sentence was so good to hear! We shared a few sentences and were able to get their address. We stopped by a few days ago but the address turned out to be an abandoned house. It was actually a house that we knocked the week before. I got discouraged thinking that I got the wrong address. I turned around, and there was the boy that we talked to. Ahh, it was perfect. He took us on a long walk to the back of the property where there was another house. We were able to teach him and his mother. His mother, at the end of the lesson, was really happy. She told us that she liked our message because before she didnt think we were normal people but now she knows we are. Haha. Anyways hopefully we will continue to teach them and see progress.

Cool things that happened this week. I finished Jesus, the Christ. Wow, what an amazing book! I was able to learn so much about the life of Jesus and the New Testament. Now, I am inspired to read the New Testament. I cant wait! Also, I ate at least 9 cakes this week. We seem to be invited to at least 5 parties a week. (were really popular.. already have an appointment for Christmas!) Oh! This is a cool story that I still cant believe.

We were at the house of the Relief Society President, Grazi, and her husband the Young Mens President, Hobbson. They are really cool. Grazi was on facebook. She wanted to show me this page called SUD (Or in English, LDS) Brazil. Basically, people attach pictures with a phrase from a prophet or the scriptures. We were clicking through them and I was having a fun time reading the phrases in Portuguese. We pass one and I was like.. hey! This picture looks familiar! I look closer and its my good friend Jamie VanWagenen! I was so shocked. Why is Jamie on a Brazilian facebook page?? It was so funny and random at the same time but I thought it was really cool. I have a picture for proof that my mom will post.

Anyways I think thats it for this week! All is well here! Continue firm in the faith of God and he will guide you with all the things that you do! My challenge to you is set some Goals for the week. They can be about school, work, friends, or the gospel. Goals are a good way of accomplishing tasks with motivation. My companion and I set some crazy goals this transfer, they almost seemed impossible. Because they seem impossible, we have been determined to meet them to prove to everyone and ourselves that its possible!

With Love,

Elder Horst

Elder Horst wasn't able to send photos.  He tried, but they would not go through.  Hopefully we will get some next week :)