Week #64

Bazinga!!!

Random Thought: There was a Tornado in Brasil!

Alright people! It was a fantastic week! Tuesday we planned an awesome day and talked to a ton of people. It all went as planned but other than that nothing special.

Really nothing happened out of the norm this week but I am having the best time of my life! Friday was a good day because we went to the Fisk school almost all day just to do contacts and introduced why we are here! It was really cool because all the classes wanted to talk to us! I felt like a celebrity doing public relations or something! But I really love going there to help them out. The instructor there is named Junior. He is a cool guy and he learned English in Canada so he has a funny Portuguese/Canadian accent. He invited us to go to his birthday the next day so we could meet his friends. So we did! We went to his house and met some of his friends, but sadly no one accepted us to teach them.

Sunday was great! We had a bunch of investigators at church and we have a baptism marked for this week! We are super excited! Everything will go right with it and the members are excited for her!

Then that night we had a meeting with the Ward mission leader and the ward missionaries. Our ward mission leader is the MAN! His name is Mario and he has a lot to do every day but he manages to get it all done and STILL magnify his calling and help us out so much! Today we are going to help his brother move.

Also random note. I started using Herbalife so that I can be more healthy! I usually don't eat breakfast or dinner, so I decided to start with this and it's really helping me out! My companion is the man and we are doing exercises everyday so we are getting a lot more fit!

This week my Spanish scriptures finally got here from Paraguay and I am so excited! I am reading them every day and I am learning Spanish a lot faster! I hope by the time I get home I can speak well.

D&C 9:8

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws

Week #63

(We are in the process of moving, so I apologize for the delay in sending some of Roman's letters. It's been a crazy few weeks/months)

Bazinga!

Random Thought: AbRipperX is fantastic!

Fantastic week with Elder Maughan! We worked hard! Last Tuesday we decided to just take the street of the church and knock all the doors, so we did! We did a ton of contacts and met some good people. One of them was a woman named Simone (SIH-MOAN-EE). She is a wonderful lady and loved our message. She is going through some hard times but she is trying to put her trust in the Lord right now. She is going to be fun to teach!

On Wednesday I took Elder Maughan to the Fisk school to introduce him and get some addresses. Well they are loving us there and keep inviting us back! One night while we were there the boss came up to us and asked if she could talk to us. We said okay and went with her. We sat in her office and she asked if we could mark a day to go in and talk with almost all of the students together. Half of them for one hour and half for the other hour! We were totally up for it and marked a day to go! Then she thanked us and asked how she could pay us! HA! We told her that we don't want payment we want addresses! So she told us that she can get us a list of addresses! HECK YES! That means we are going to get like 50 addresses to visit! Can you say references??

Anyway later in the week we passed by again to confirm the date and plan a little more about what we are going to do. We just mentioned that we were trying to learn Spanish personally at home and she said,"Well if you want, you can come to Spanish classes here in trade for all the help you are giving us!" Our jaws dropped and we were so excited. It turns out that it works out perfectly to use our language study time on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to go to Fisk and study the language there! We are super happy because it doesn't mess up our schedule or take our proselyting time away! What a blessing for us!

On Sunday we decided to just do contacts and teach lessons to new people. Well we knocked on a door and a girl came out to the gate. Elder Maughan and I noted that it looked like she had been crying and while she went to push the button to open the gate I said,"I'll bet she was just praying to the Lord for an answer to her prayers." She then came out to us to talk and we explained who we are and why we are here and she asked us to come in. So we sat in front of the house to have a lesson. It was really spiritual and she had a lot of questions! She really liked it and wants to go to church. At the end she said,"Can I say something? Right before you two showed up I was in my room praying and crying and asking for the Lord to show me the path he wants me to take. Then you two came to my door! I think the Lord is telling me something!" I just looked at Elder Maughan with a huge smile and we explain that He is telling her something. I LOVE when the spirit talks and I can hear him.

Ether 9:22

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws

Week #62

Bazinga!

Random Thought: I went for a two mile run this morning.

Well hello there! This week has been fantastic! Elder Maughan is the man and I am super excited to be his companion. We are best friends here on the mission and now we are just working our black socks off! I am super excited about it.

The first week of the transfer is a little annoying here as a ZL. We have a meeting in Campo Grande the first week of every transfer and that is very far away from Ponta Pora. So we had to leave our area at 5:30pm on Thursday and take a six hour bus ride. Friday we had an all day meeting with the president and then we got on a bus at 1:00am to get back into our area at 7:00am on Saturday! It was an adventure!

First when we got to the bus station I asked Elder Maughan for the phone and he told me he didn't have it. Oops! So we went two days without our phone. Then while we were on the bus I was talking with my companion and after I asked if he was feeling lazy, a book fell from the top storage right on his head! I DIED laughing! Needless to say the bus ride was fun.

Saturday we didn't get much done either because we were busy cleaning up a mess with all the baptism forms and then going to bed early because we didn't get much sleep on the bus. Out of the last 12 baptisms 0 of the forms were filled out right, so we had to go hunt down a bunch of information so we can send them to the office.

Sunday was great! We worked hard and got a lot done. At night we had a meeting with our ward mission leader and he is the man. He helps us so much and is a really cool guy. He also served in the US so he knows English. Something he said was that we need to work hard enough so that when we leave here, we leave a good impression.

Sorry for the short letter this week was just traveling and meetings. Not a lot time with investigators or teaching. More to come next week!

D&C 121:36

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws

Week #61

Bazinga! (from Sept 2nd, sorry it's late but we were moving)

Random Thought: The Lord helps us. ALL of us.

Transfers: I will be staying here in Ponta Pora and Elder Maughan (from Florida) will be coming here to be my companion! I am excited!

Well another wonderful week here in Brasil! Not much happened out of the norm so this letter will be short as well.

During the week we went to the Fisk school again! When we got there a woman came up to us and asked if we were the Americans. I said yes and she went on to say that she is the director there and wants to schedule a day where ALL the students of the school can talk to us! I said of course! So now we are going back this week to mark a day! I am super excited! It's a really fun way to do missionary work!

Also yesterday we left with the bishop to do visits in our area! This bishop is amazing and I am super excited that I get to stay here and continue working with him. He knows a lot of people and always knows how to get people to open up. Anyways, yesterday as we were leaving we asked if a boy named Moroni would say the closing prayer.
He said,"No, I prayed that other day you were here!"
Bishop said," Did you also eat lunch that day?"
The boy said, "Yeah."
The Bishop replied, "Did you eat lunch today?"
Again the boy said, "Yeah."
The Bishop came back with, "Then you can pray today too!"
It was super funny and now I have a new technique for when people say they don't want to pray!

Well that's all I've got this week. It's been a trying week with a frustrating companion but all is well now that we are having transfers and I know the Lord loves me!

Ether 2:22

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws