Maringa April 9, 2012

Hello wonderful Mommy!
What a crazy week for ya´ll! I hope Sharon is getting better fast from her surgery! Surgery mustn’t be very fun. That kind of cool that the house will be all spiffy! We just have to look at the bright side that we have the chance to remodel. And I´ve already forgot what a dishwasher is! Nobody has a dishwasher here. It isn´t a question of money but not even rich people have them. Just nobody likes them here. I´ve got real, real good at doing the dishes! That’s neat that Lindsay getting married! Send some pictures and stuff!

So, this week went by really, really fast. Last P-day we left early to go to Londrina for leadership council. It was real good and stuff. Then on our way back we stopped in Cia Norte, a small city in our zone to help out a little bit. I got to meet some cool people and there will be probably 5 baptisms there in the coming weeks! One is an awesome family that just needs to get married. Then we came back and had district meeting and worked normal. I was a little rough because of the Easter holiday and it rained a whole ton, but we had one huge miracle! We have been teaching an awesome family named Fernando and Fernanda and we went there with our Ward mission leader and taught the plan of salvation. They liked it so much and everybody was crying and stuff. They went to church with us and discovered that they know a whole bunch of the members here. Fernando said that when he was sitting in the Gospel Principles class and the teacher said that the priesthood was restored by Joseph Smith he said all his hair stood on end. They are both super elect and really like iron man as well! They accepted baptismal dates and are going suuuuuper good! What and awesome family. I will really miss this ward. I told Bishop that I would probably be leaving in a week or two and he gave me his awesome tie clip. Then I got to give a talk in church about the resurrection and the meeting was really nice. We even had a great attendance even with Easter and rain! Since I got here with Elder Proulx church attendance has risen from 80 to 110 and they authorized the construction of a chapel in our area! The Lord is really blessing the work here! I also learned today that this month we will be visited by Elder Quentin L. Cook! I will have the chance to sing in a quartet to do a special musical number there. Cool! I´ve never met an apostle! We are pretty excited! So, that’s about it! Oh, the rabbits came back! Silly Rabbits! Houses are for missionaries!

Presto testemunho da realidade da ressurreição. Sei que Cristo vive. Que no terçeiro dia ele levantou da tomba e trouxe vida ao mundo. Sei que nossa familia foiselada pela autoridade do santo sacerdócio e que nenhum força terrena pode quebrar esse convênio. Sei que o Livro de Mormon é verdadeiro e que somos abençoados por ter profetas e apostolos vivos em nossos dias. Não proseguiremos em tão grande uma causa? Manda um abraço pra tudo mundo aí! Te amo muito! Amor, Elder Homen de Ferro

{Rosemary’s Translation: (Steven speaks much better Portuguese than I do Spanish)
I bear witness to the reality of the resurrection. I know that Christ lives. On the third day he rose from the tomb and brought life to the world. I know our family was sealed by the authority of the holy priesthood and that no earthly power can break that covenant. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and we are blessed to have living prophets and apostles today. Should we not carry on in so great a cause? Send a hug to the entire world there! Love you a lot! Love, Elder Iron Man}