Cascavel April 30, 2012

Hello! Hello! Hello!
Firstly: This keyboard is in Spanish and doesn´t have a question mark button.
Secondly> Wow have I got a lot of news for you!
So first off> Elder Cook: Wow!!

On Saturday at 4:30 in the morning we got on the bus a journey to Londrina. I was actually kind of nervous because I had to play piano and sing in front of Elder Cook. We sat down there one hour early and I was practicing and playing some prelude and in general just being nervous. Then all of a sudden we just felt something different about the building. Everyone started looking around and in a few minutes entered President Tavares, Elder Cook, Elder Whitney L. Clayton, and Elder Godoy. It was the strangest thing because the moment I saw him I just felt happiness and love and I didn’t even feel nervous anymore. We all stood up as he came in and he just smiled and waved at us and said ´´oh sit down sit down!´´ He came up and shook everyone’s hand and thanked me for the prelude. His wife is really nice too! I was literally sitting right next to them at the piano and she was just telling me what hymns to play and being happy. I didn’t feel even the least bit nervous and was able to play everything just right. We heard some wonderful talks about Real Growth and how to baptize and reactivate more people. We talked about the power of the Book of Mormon and prayer, ward counsels, and a ton of other great things. I think Elder Clayton will be an apostle. He´s the man.

At the end Elder Cook stood up again. He said that he would like to bear his testimony and leave an apostolic blessing with us. He blessed us that we could always remember how much God loves us. He blessed us that we could understand the atonement. He told us that many of us had passed for many hard things in life, and also many of us had made big mistakes in the past, but he said that Christ literally paid for all of that and the Holy Ghost is a purifying agent. If we can have the spirit with us we can be completely forgiven and all of those bad things will fade into the past. There was not a person in the room that was not crying. It was a very special experience that I will not easily forget. 

So, moving on: I got transferred. Sad! Actually awesome, but I will really miss Mandacaru. Before being transferred I visited everybody we had taught. The Parents of Peterson and Larisse have decided to come back to church and they also won a new house! Angela and Margarete got a cute little puppy from Admilson. Alex, Rosimeire and Mario are going to be sealed in the temple this July! Christina is helping her mom come back to church and is super happy. Michelle helped Angela get a job and Mirani and all the kids love the church. Fernando was baptized yesterday and they will go to the temple next year! Their son is Gabriel and he has 3 years and is completely obsessed with Iron man **coincidence. I think not!**. We managed to bring the church attendance up by 40 and the church authorized a new chapel in Mandacaru. YEEHAA!!!!  Man, I really miss everybody there already, but oh well. We can dream about going back right. 

I was transferred to Ward Coqueiral in the city of Cascavel. Funny enough, they only city in the mission that I hadn´t visited yet. Now I can say that I´ve been everywhere! My new companion is Elder Sepúlveda from Piaui Brasil. He is way cool. Here in Cascavel it is really cold! I Love it!! Yesterday it was 45 degrees! It was sooooooooooo good! Everyone was looking at me crazy because they were dying of cold and I was running around in short sleeves. So, we are already teaching some good families. One went to church yesterday and wants to get married to be baptized! Another guy from Paraguay went to church too and will be baptized probably this Saturday or Sunday. The ward is brand new and only has 5 months and so things are a little crazy, but it will be good. 

So, rapping things up: That’s some cool beans news about home! I am so glad Sharon is doing well. I got her graduation announcement! Craziness!!! I´ll be excited to see the new bathroom as well. That’s awesome that Joy got married and Sharla is engaged! The Lord really blessed us with that scholarship! Can things get any better? Also, if you get a chance tell Jessica that I got her letter yesterday and I am suuuper stoked that her brothers are going to Brazil!!! I would write her back but I think that I´ll get there before my letter, so just pass it on. 

I know that Christ lives and love us. I know more than ever that this church is led by living prophets and Apostles. I know the book of Mormon is true. I love this work and I love ya´ll a whole kilo ton. I think I´ll just go outside and yell Gloria halleluiah!

Love, Elder Iron Man