Excedrin + Priesthood = miracles

Hey folks!

This week was a little bit more difficult. A lot of things went wrong.
Our baptism fell threw, we missed a bus, It was super tough finding
new investigators and to top it off I got pretty sick Saturday and
Sunday. I had a fever and had the usual symptoms of the flu. Sunday
morning I woke up with a massive headache and ear ache. But I took
some excedrin and had my companion give me a blessing. Almost
immedieately the headache and ear ache went away. It was a pretty neat
experience. I´m still pretty congested today but feeling much better.

But we have had some amazing experiences with a family we are
teaching. It´s so great because it is a complete family; father,
mother and 2 kids. The father is the one that shows the most interest
(very different than normal). He has a lot of desire to get to know
the Church better but his wife and kids were more hesitant. But they
all went to Church yesterday and they all are loving it. Last night
hiswife asked us, ``so how long do I have to wait to be able to do
visiting teaching?`` ``You don´t! You just need to be baptized to have
an official assignment``. The whole family seems quite enthusiastic
about everything. And we of course are super excited too.

So the ward I am in here attends Church in a little rented place that
actually used to be a bar. But we will soon be moving to a bigger and
more sophisticated place...an old shoe factory! This ward has had a
lot struggles. The goal is to be able to build an official chapel but
because of low attendance rates it just hasn´t happened. But we are
moving to this other place that has more space and better yet, air
conditioning. I think the change will really help the missionar work
here. The members are going to be more excited and the new location is
much more centralized in the area. We should be moving next month.

So this week a little more trying than the others but it also was very
good. Especially because of the progress of this family we are
teaching. Trusting in the Lord makes all the difference.
I hope you all have a great week!
Elder McLelland

Happy Halloween

So Halloween isn´t celebrated here. I think wednesday is ``Dia dos
Mortos´´ but i don´t think it´s a very big celebrated holiday here. It
will probably be ike the rest of the holidays here in Brazil; no one
really knows what the holiday is but they do know that don´t have to
work and get to drink a lot. Elder Farrington, another elder in my
district, was making the comparison that being a missionary is a lot
like Halloween. You get dressed up, you knock on a lot of doors, and
people usually give you food.

The weather has been nuts these pastfew days. Saturday started out as
the hottest day I have had on the mission and then it turned into the
rainiest day. We had a massive thunderstorm and I got thoroughly
soaked. It broke my umbrella too. I was on exchanges with my Zone
Leader so I could do a baptismal interview in his area. We got
caughtright in the middle of the storm. It knocked down a lot of trees
and power lines. When we got to the house for me to do the interview
the girls mom insisted that I change my clothes. I kept saying no but
she was getting angry so I in and put on her son´s t-shirt, shorts and
flip flops. I can now say that I did a baptismal interview by candle
light and not wearing the normal missionary clothes. Kind of a weird
experience.

We had an Area Seventy, Elder Tobias, attend our Sacrament meeting
yesterday. My mission president was also supposed to be their but he
ended up going to a different ward. On Saturday morning we also had a
training with Elder Tobias. It was really good to hear his training
and he gave a lot of good insights to us. We are also getting a lot
more consistent at getting investigators to Church these past few
weeks. We should have quite a few more baptisms this next month. This
Sunday we should have at least one, Geraldo. He is a 60 year old man.
He is such a simple and humble man. He has been going to Church for
the last three weeks. We challenged him again last night to be
baptized and he readily accepted. We also have a lot of others that we
are preparing for baptism later in the month.

Yesterday we did a family night with an investigator family and I made
apple pie for them. It´s such a simple thing but delicious. They all
loved it. You really learn a lot things on the mission. I never
thought I would learn to make apple pie while on the mission. Elder
Farrington taught me. I´ve also learned some other Brazilian foods.
I´m excited to show all of you when I get back. My favoite to make is
Stroganoff. And of course, rice and beans.

Well, I guess that´s about it. Have a great Halloween!
Elder McLelland