Bom dia!

 

This has been quite the week! Full of lessons and invitations, sweet and stressful and tranquilo and joy and all that great stuff.

 

I wish I had time to talk about all the great investigators we have right now, but that simply wouldn´t be possible. We have so many! It´s awesome. 15 mais o menos. We picked up 11 new investigators this week.  Brasileiros are the bomb! They are the nicest people I´ve ever encountered. They think with their hearts and are sensitive to the influence of the Spirit. They are open minded and willing to serve God. They also like to talk. A LOT. And they talk very fast. They are such fun people and I am falling more in love with the country and the people as I am better able to understand what they are saying.

 

The language has been quite killer. Practically no one here speaks English, and if they  aren't missionaries, they don´t like to speak it. With all the confusion and awkward encounters, I have had a lot of doubt floating around in my head. At the peak of my discouragement, I received a miracle. Stake conference was this weekend and guess who was there? Elder Steven Snow!! (of the 1st quorum of the Seventy.) He gave such amazing talks. And he spoke English! And strangely enough, he talked about learning a language on his mission! He served in Germany and struggled with the language.  He talked about how much compassion he has for missionaries learning a language. He said that through patience, faith, and diligence, he was able to learn German and that he was ready when he was needed. It was a struggle that was well worth it and has blessed his life. So I´m stoked now!! I feel revamped and ready. I know that I am one of thousands of missionaries who the Lord can trust to endure this challenge, and I know that no matter how hard it will be, it will be well worth it.

 

Well I´ve got to go... Até logo!

 

Élder Hamilton

Missionário para A Igreja De Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Dos Últimos Dias

Barro Vermelho - Rio De Janeiro

 

 

Niterói Zona (best zone in the mission)