Week Three

Well Elder Smith is now in the Sao Paulo Brazil MTC, and I hope to join him soon, as soon as my visa comes in. I know that there have been good opportunities here for me to help struggling companions and to get adjusted to missionary life. However I truly think that the reason I am here and not in Brazil yet, was a meeting I had last week at the Training Resource Center (TRC). The TRC is a place where church members who live here in Utah come to have the missionaries teach them a message. They don't pretend to not be members or anything like that, its just a chance for us to practice the language and help them understand more about the gospel as we review gospel principles. Last week, I got to teach a lady who is from Curitiba! Sister Roque is a wonderfully sweet woman and she started tearing up as I shared some of my experiences with prayer. As we finished she asked where I am going to be serving and her whole face lit up. She took a whole page in my Portuguese Bible to write down her contact information and when she will be in Curitiba this winter. She tearfully explained that she has friends who she would like the missionaries to go talk to but she had been somewhat hesitant to tell the missionaries, and she would like me to go find them and share the same happiness she has found with them. Before we left, she made me promise to call her so that she can give me their names and numbers. She also promised that she would bring us food if we were doing a good job :) Meeting with good people is such a spirit lifter... sometimes being in a class for 12 hours a day is tiresome, so meeting with good members is a wonderful blessing. Remember that. The missionaries are still people too and a little chat can leave their day a bit brighter.

There may yet be more that the Lord has for me to do here before I can go to Brazil, but  I'm still praying it comes quickly

A big thanks to Aunt Amie for the mini-sized Preach My Gospel! There is an awesome picture of the family (the only one I have) on the inside and now when I teach people about having families in heaven, I can show them the wonderful people that I'll get to spend eternity with!!

It was hard to share the rice krispy treats that mom and calli sent today, but my zone greatly appreciated it :)

Conference was wonderful here in the MTC. As you can imagine, the MTC exploded with cheers and clapping when the announcement of lower ages for missionary service were announced. It will be a great blessing to those who want to learn about the gospel, and a great blessing to the increased number of sisters who will be able to serve. All of us missionaries appreciated Elder Nelson's talk... Because if you want to learn more, they are there to help. They've... We've given up two years to teach people about Christ and the Church, so if you need their help, they will be more than willing to talk to you and help you out! Plus I'm sure that biking around in the Oregon rain can be tough.

I've loved hearing from you and hope that things continue to go well at home.

God takes care of his missionaries and the people who pray for them :)

With muito amor,

Elder Conner House