Cameron-first week of October 2011

Elder Bednar is coming to our mission November 16!!
I got the pictures of Marissa that you sent. The visa. Can you wait until the end of the month. i think I am going to have to renew my Visa this month. I will be able to tell you then.

Dear brethren and sistren, 

The week was full of excitement. Sunday we held a fireside with a musical group that would come in from Rio. We scrambled to pass out invites to everyone. We told them how great it would be. I was really excited as well.

Denise. We finally managed to talk to her after almost a week of not talking. Unfortunately, when we got there she wasn't nearly as receptive as she was when we first found her. She talked with her Pastor and he told her that it wasn't a good idea to mix religions. She said that all religions are God's and we all worship the same god. I explained very delicately that this is a lie. It's true that we all speak of the same Christ and that many religions have good things, but God would not be the source of the confusion of religions that the world has today. Just the simple idea that her pastor told her not to mix religions and all religions are God's doesn't make sense. If they are all his, why can't we mix? Needless to say, I was a little sad and upset to lose someone that received us so well.

The best part of the week was the new people we found. A member gave us a referral of a woman, Rosane, who wants to learn English and her kids who speak more or less. We went there and they are way cool with us. Unfortunately they couldn't go to church because they would be traveling, but they went to the fireside that night. The best part was when we were leaving their house, the mom lead us to the door and then she started to tell us that she wants to learn english, but she also wants her kids to follow a church. She would never tell her kids that. As you can imagine we were pretty excited because we too want her kids to follow a church (wink, wink). 

The next cool part was when we found Marinez. We were actually trying to contact Rosane when we pushed the wrong button for the apartment. Marinez answered and we asked where Rosane lives. She informed us, then we asked her if we could leave a message with her. She agreed. She is also way awesome. She doesn't have any religious preferences because she doesn't like all the wrong things she sees in churches. I explained to her very bluntly that this is because all those churches are established by men. They are in it for the money (most of them). We explained the restoration and explained how our church is different. She has visited many churches but never visited our church. Unfortunately, something came up on Sunday and she couldn't go to church. I trust her and believe she still has a great chance to progress.

Thursday I went to Teresopolis on a division. I can now say I saw the finger of God just like the brother of Jared. I can say this because there is a rock in teresopolis that is called the finger of God. It looks like a hand with a finger pointing upward. It was an interesting division. Our Zone Leaders have a very good teaching group because they work well with the members. I'm pretty sure they had a member at every single visit. They are using the recent converts to find new investigators. I will have to try more of what they do. They are good leaders because they set good examples. Interesting part -- the missionary who baptized Elder Branco's mom is from Teresopolis, While I was there I found out who the man is. Elder Branco is really excited to meet him. This man doesn't know that his convert's son is serving in his stake. It will be a fun moment when they meet each other.

Mom, I know you are asking to know what I eat, but to me, i eat the same thing every day. Beans and rice. It's not exciting. My favorite type of beans is feijoada. It's like regular black beans and rice, but it is tempered differently and has interesting parts of the pig. I try to avoid those parts, but the way it is tempered makes it very good. We made food at home this week. We made this traditional brazilian dish called storgonof. It's like a tomato soup with milk and meat in it. The way I make it is better because I put taco seasoning and chili powder in it. The brazilians don't like chili or anything spicy, but I don't tell them until after they are eating it. They all love it.

My companion is still Elder Branco. He is officially the elder I have spent the most time with. He connects well with many investigators because has quite the past. He has overcome a smoking and drinking addiction. It really helps the investigators. I can encourage them as much as I want, but I still have never put any of those things into my mouth.

Nova Friburgo is an impressive place. The city gradually is recovering from the tragedy in january. There are serious mountains of dirt that fell from above. The streets are in terrible condition because of this. The bishop was telling us stories the other day about the day of the accident. He said his parents were underground for 6 hours before being rescued.

The fireside was excellent. it was about the book of mormon. The turnout of members was great. We had five investigators from the two wards in the city. A group from Rio came and sang. They sang well and left a great spirit. We took 35 book of mormon's and a ton of pamphlets and other materials. Almost everything was gone. I hope this means lots of future referrals. 

Love you all. The church is true.

Elder Walker