Week #22

Bazinga!

Random Thought: I am wearing a Fanta Grape shirt right now. It's very purply...

HOLY COW!!!!!!! So good news! I slept the entire 10 hour drive to Campo Grande! On Tuesday I arrived in the city of Campo Grande where a bunch of Elders met me! I soon found out that none of them were my new companion and that we would have to wait another half hour or hour until the bus of Elders from Cuiabá arrived. When it finally arrived I met my new companion and he is GREAT! More about that later. We then got on our bus to Aquidauana and rode for another two hours until we finally arrived! I am sad to say that I was really disappointed about the weather. It´s still hot. Only a tiny bit less than Rondonopolis.

We finally saw are new house at about noon. I will say the truth, at first I was a little nervous! It´s in an ally way next to a paint shop and not all of the outlets work, our fridge doesn't work and only keeps thing a tiny bit cooler than if they weren´t in the fridge at all. Only one Elder has a bed frame and it´s not me, and my mattress is only about 4 inches thick but since its six years old my entire body touches the ground. Ha it was a shocker!

Only after we looked at the whole house, did the Elder that was already in this area tell us that we already had authorization to move and he had talked to the mission president and he said he would make sure that we will get our fridge and new beds! I´ve spent a week in this old house already and we don´t move until Thursday! I am happy though! Oh so happy! When I feel a little like complaining about the conditions I remember that I am privileged to be out here preaching and teaching as a representative of Jesus Christ! I am LUCKY to be a missionary and to be living in this house!

Elder Shuss took us to see the two options we had for new houses and we decided on one that is an upstairs apartment! There is plenty of space for us four Elders and everything is in good condition! The rest of Tuesday we spent meeting people in the area! The new town is much smaller than my old city, only about 45K people for us 4 Elders to teach. I don't yet know how big the ward or stake is or anything like that. More details next week.

Wednesday after lunch all four of us went shopping for appliances! This is a small town that is kind of isolated so anything here is a bit more expensive. We ended up looking at a few different stores but there wasn´t much of a difference in pricing. We should be able to get our new appliances and furniture about the time we move!

Thursday was Thanksgiving!!! It´s funny because we didn´t even realize it until it was almost lunch time. I´m sure a million missionaries have already said this but it just feels weird that no one makes a big deal out of it here. So what did I do for Thanksgiving!?!? Elder Shuss and I had divisions together and we taught until about 7:00pm when we walked up to a house with some people that Elder Shuss already knew. They immediately brought out a bench and asked us to sit down, so of course we accepted! We started talking and when they found out we were Americans they started asking us about a ton of stuff in the states! Well while we were talking more people showed up and then more until there were about 15 more people! During our conversation we found out that they were part of a reformed baptist church and that everyone who showed up was a part of that same church! Then out of the blue they said they were about to have a worship service if we wanted to join. Elder Shuss and I looked at each other, looked back at them and said,"Of course why not!?" So we joined them! It was a little strange but nothing that was preached was contrary to the teachings of the LDS church! During the whole thing we played a game where we would sing while passing match boxes in a circle and the whole point was that as a church and as followers of Christ we have to work together to continue faithfully on the right path! It was great! Everyone was friendly and loved having us there! They even invited us for the next meeting! So what did I do for Thanksgiving? I had family home evening with a reformed baptist group!

Friday and Saturday were fantastic teaching days! Elder Bresciano and I are turning out to be a great team! We are both from Washington (he´s from Seattle), We both want to work hard and we have set some pretty high goals! All of our lessons have gone great and with the help of the Spirit we´ve done some major work this week! We taught 29 lessons, and marked 3 baptisms in the 6 days we have been here! I LOVE WORKING THIS HARD!!! We are seriously working our tails off!

Saturday night we went and played soccer with a bunch of young men at the church! The church building here has a soccer court made of pavement that doubles as a parking lot on Sundays. Anyways, we played soccer while some sisters in the branch cleaned the building. After soccer we sat all the young men down and taught them the lesson of The Gospel of Jesus Christ. All but one of the young men were non-members so it was perfect! Elder Bresciano and I then went to the front of the building so we could get our proselyting clothes from inside the building, but it was locked! The sisters that were cleaning locked the building and locked the gate, so none of us could get outside the church property unless we hopped the fence! Since that was the only option that's exactly what we did! It was way fun.

Sunday was cool. We didn't have any of the young men we expected at he beginning of church so we talked with someone who had a car and we went and pick them up! I didn't know where the president of the young men was so I ended up winging a lesson that took up all the class time. This week was also the primary program and they don´t have anyone here who plays the piano, so when they heard that Elder Bresciano plays they asked him to wing it during the program! He ended up doing a fantastic job!

This week was fantastic and it looks like life her is going to be great! I am nothing but excited for this transfer!

James 2:17

Com muito amor,
Elder Roman Laws