Week Sixty Three

Sent: Wed 10/19/2011 11:06 AM

Hi Mom!

I´m really good; things are really starting to get exciting here. We´ve made so many good plans, and we´re getting started on executing them, and I know that we´re going to have results. I just feel different about the area now; not sure why. But we´re doing our best, and we have a lot of great people we´re teaching.

This Sunday we didn´t have as many people at church as we were hoping, but we had a miracle! I was just about to head out for our lunch when one of the members stopped me. I knew he was a member but I´d never seen him before, and later I found out that he and his whole family had gone inactive for a really long time, and they wanted to come back! On top of that, they asked us to help his 9 year old son get baptized! It was so cool, and when we taught them yesterday, Elder Gill and I felt like they are going to be a really important family in the ward.

It´s a lot of work taking care of two wards, but we´re getting stuff figured out, and I know we´re going to start seeing results soon. It´s just like with you guys, working so hard all of the time. The harder that we work and the more that we ask God to help us, if we´re worthy, we don´t have to worry, because we can be sure that He´ll give it to us! Isn´t that so awesome? I love that we can have that freedom. I know that it´s helping me and that it can help you, so do your best to make it happen! God´s waiting to bless all of us.

They tell us to just do thumbs up, to be safe. The OK sign´s like profane here, so we just do it. It´s kinda natural now, haha

Love you Mom! Have a great week!!!!!


Love, Eric








Hey Dad!



I´m good, and it sounds like you´re about as busy as we are! We´re running all over the place, and we´ve got Zone Conferences in two weeks, so that´s going to be interesting. The Zones here are pretty small, so we just have to go to another chapel in Curitiba, but there are about 14 missionaries in the zone, with two other zones having conferences with us, so that kinda makes it complicated. In total, there should be around 40 or 50 missionaries there. The President gives a training and we might too, and we just learn a lot and get to practice so that we can be more effective. There´s usually a theme, and this one´s going to be more about Elder Holland´s talk this last conference. It´s going to be fun, but a lot of work. Time really is flying!

I´m learning a whole lot from Elder Gill, and we´re really excited to see the work grow here. There are so many people to teach! We´re working hard, and working on working smart, too, so that we can make it happen here.

How are things at work? Still really busy? I´m so glad that you guys have been able to keep going even though I know that things aren´t fantastic economically in the US right now. I know that the Lord is protecting our family, and I´m so glad that we get the chance to be a part of the church.

We baptized a couple last week, and I remember that they were counting the days until their baptism, which seemed so far away, but when we got there, we realized that it had only been 60 days! Time moves so fast, and we can´t waste it doing things we shouldn´t. We can´t afford to spend time repenting; we´ve gotta prevent and work for everything we´ve got! That´s how I´m feeling as a missionary, anyway; we don´t have a lot more time, so we better get going! It´s great being a part of all of this, and I can´t wait until Nick is, too!

Love you Dad, and hope that all´s going even greater than you described!
Love, Eric

Week Sixty Two - New Companion

Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 1:08 PM

Hey Mom!

I don´t remember if I told you that today was transfers, or that I was expecting that nothing would change, but in any case, today was transfers and something changed. Elder Lima Santos was transferred after 20 days in the area and my new companion is Elder Gill, an American who used to be the Financial Secretary for the mission. He´s really excited to get working and to help the Zone, which is good because over half of the missionaries we had in the Zone got transferred, too! It was pretty nuts to hear all of the news, to be honest, but now we´ve just gotta get down to it and get working again.

I´ve realized that God never really lets you fall into a routine when you´re doing His will and doing it worthily. I really never expected that in 6 weeks I´d have 3 companions, but it seems that I had something to learn, and something to teach, as well. I realized that what really matters is how we do the work, and if we focus on God´s glory, the results will come, without fail. Every time we obey, God´s obligated to bless us, even if He does it in His time.

I gained a testimony of the Lord´s timing yesterday, when we had a wedding and a baptism on the same day! It was great; the couple was so happy, and it was a really spiritual experience. Another Elder that was here before me talked to the man on the street, and he almost denied the visit, but when he heard that The Book of Mormon could change his life, he accepted, and from there, he got divorced, remarried, and waited 60 days to be baptized. He was willing to leave a woman he´d been living with for 21 years to be baptized! It was so incredible to see their testimonies grow with time, and when they were baptized, it was the realization of long hours and lots of prayer. Because of them, lots and lots of people will come to know the Gospel, without a doubt!

I´m learning more and more each day, and I know that we´ll do miracles together if we really work hard and just do it! I´m excited to get started. Love you Mom!

Love you!!!!!!!!
Love, Eric




Hey Dad!

It´s been heating up lately, but Monday it rained like crazy; definitely the hardest I´d ever seen in my life. And guess who hasn´t bought an umbrella yet. It was fine, though, and no worries, I´ll get an umbrella soon, I just wanted to give the weather update, really.

So I thought nothing would change, but Elder Lima Santos was transferred and Elder Gill is my new companion. He´s American, and he used to be the Financial Secretary for the mission, so he´s stoked to get out there and get working full-time again. Elder Gill´s got about a year and nine months on the mission, so he speaks better than I do!

It´s been really great these last couple of days, though; we got a couple married and baptized last night! It was so cool, and it was all at the church, too. A bunch of their family was there, and they´re all coming to church this Sunday! It´s going to be a great opportunity to preach the gospel, and we´ll have someone right at our side to help us out, for sure. The husband bore his testimony at transfers this morning, and everyone felt the Spirit so strongly. It really was a super special experience.

We´re working hard (or will be, I guess.), and I know we´ll be blessed with more success soon. We have a lot of people who are really progressing well towards baptism, and I know that things will just get better from here. I´m stoked to get to work!

I can´t believe Homecoming was last week, and that Sidney Ross is old enough to be Queen! Holy Cow! But that´s not too important now. I gotta get back to saving these souls!

Love you Dad, and have a great week!
Love, Eric

Week Sixty One

Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 11:00 AM

Hi Mom!

We´re teaching a girl who lived in the US for like 5 years when she was little, and her dream is to visit Portland! And she speaks English fluently, without an accent at all; it´s nuts. The first time I saw her she said, "You can talk to me in English if you want, I can understand." All in English and it totally freaked me out. We ran into another woman the other day who´s an Evangelical sister (she dresses like a nun) and she started talking to me in English, too. WEIRD. But it´s interesting, and there´s really never a dull moment here.

I was thinking about you guys coming to get me, and I realized that, if we wait a little bit, we could all come to the sealing of some investigators we´re going to baptize next week! They´re really great, and they´re going to get married at the chapel the same day as their baptism! It´s been awesome to see how they´ve grown; the wife quit smoking, and the husband was there for all 5 sessions of conference! Even the Priesthood session, which was from 9pm to 11pm! It´s so awesome to see people really accept the Gospel, and I think it would be really great if we could all go through the temple together. What do you think?

I´m really loving being here, and each day brings a new learning experience. We did a division with the Assistants to the President yesterday, and we taught a deaf man with an interpreter. It was so cool, because even though we couldn´t exactly understand everything that was going on, we could feel the Spirit testify of everything that we discussed. He was interviewed, and is going to be baptized tomorrow night! It was incredible.

Every day I´m getting better, and I know that the Lord is blessing each one of us. He told us He´s a God of miracles, and the only thing we have to do is believe, and do what He tells us, and we have the right to ask for anything good we want! Just like the 70 that asked for a quarter on the ground to get some chicken. I loved that story! Everything´s great here, and Elder de Jesus got your package, so we´re all great. Love you Mom!

Love you!!!!!!!!
Love, Eric




Hey Dad!

Our investigators are doing really well; we´ve got a wedding and a baptism set for next week, and it´s going to be awesome! They´re so excited, and we´re going to get everyone in the ward to come and watch! The bishop said that this is the first time in 10 years they´ve had something like this in the ward, so we´re really trying to make it great. We´ve also got some other people who are progressing really well.

We´re always trying to find new people to teach, too, and we´re going to start trying some new techniques to make it easier. We can´t just go into an apartment and knock doors here, unfortunately, so we´ll have to be creative. It´s going to be great, I know it.

There are doormen that have to open the door for you from the inside, and here you don´t ever knock on the door; even if you´re at a normal house, you clap. So you have to know someone that lives in the apartment complex or get permission to go in, and because there are so many thefts and break ins and stuff, if you don´t have a really good reason, they don´t let you in. And apparently the Gospel´s not a good enough reason. But we make it work, so no worries. Things will all work themselves out; Monday I got stopped in the street by two girls I´d talked to in my last area, who both moved into the area I´m serving in now! Crazy huh? We´ll definitely be headed over there.

This is the last P-day of the transfer, so the Zone´s probably going to be a whole lot different the next time I write you, but there´s pretty much no way that I´m leaving or my companion, so no worries about that. Don´t work yourself too hard, and keep me posted on how everything´s going. And if Aaron won his game! Love you dad!

Love you!!!!!!!!
Love, Eric