July 28, 2014 - Brasil Week 28

Hey people!

Be patient with my spelling errors; I'm writing on a keyboard with no letters and I'm guessing a lot.

So I got transferred to a ward called Jardim Eliana and the first thing I noted about this area is that it is MINISCULE. Like, we can cross our area in four minutes. I timed us. This freaked me out a bit, because I was so sure that the missionaries before us had burned the area pretty well (meaning they'd already talked to everyone), but turns out this isn't the case at all. There wasn't a lot in the Area Book, so we quickly found all the investigators of the sisters and have been doing lots of finding as well. We've found a ton of really interesting people who have a lot of interest and I have great expectations for this area now. I hope I can stay here a good long while and just work. This ward is recently divided and very small (sacrament meeting attendance is so low that it looks like a branch) so there's a lot of work to be done here. I'm really excited. We live with the second counselor and his family, and his daughter and her husband and child really want to get married and get baptized. They came to church for the first time this week and loved it. We have a ton of other people who will come next Sunday, too. Seriously, almost half the attendance in church this Sunday was investigators and recent converts. The zone leaders had two baptisms and two confirmations, so this ward has a great deal of momentum. We kind of hit the ground running, for which I am glad.

My new companion is Sister Boulangger, from Peru (if you're counting, this is my fourth hispanic companion in a row. She still speaks a lot of Spanish, but up til now I haven't had any problem understanding.

Today is not actually our p-day, because we'll be going to the temple tomorrow, which I'm really excited for. My last zone was going to go the 29th and my new zone had already gone, so I wasn't sure if I'd get the chance.

As for family history, thanks so much for everything! I now have photos of everyone except Mabel Purnecy Pearce, if you could rustle up one for me. Mom, those short histories you sent for Burton and Mabel were perfect; send some more for other members and get those translated soon. I'm printing off the stuff about Amy Wwodward and Ester Allen, so that should help too. About the birthplaces of all my siblings: O can't remember who was born in Utah and who in Boston; could you send those to me?

Thanks so much; love you all

Sister Anna Nielsen