Second Week!‏

Hey everyone!!

So the second week here in Uruguaiana was great! It was actually a completely normal and actually a good week in terms of how much we were able to teach, the new investigators we were able to find, and everything. We´re totally, totally being blessed, because I was expecting to have a rough first few weeks opening the area! But it´s going amazing! Let´s see everything that happened.

We focused on getting a lot of new investigators this week, since there wasn´t a big teaching pool when we got here, and were able to find some amazing people! We found this couple who´s right out of those stories you always hear. Cinthia and Wagner are a young couple (she´s my age) with a 3 year old and a 6 month old. We taught the first lesson to her and her grandma, and they loved it and were really receptive, but it didn´t seem unusual. (The first lesson for us is different than anywhere else, for those of you who have served missions. Presidente Myrrha broke up the first lesson into 3 parts: "The Ministry" is the first one we teach, followed by The Restoration, and third, The Book of Mormon. So the first lesson explains the mortal ministry of Christ, baptism, the church he established, and the atonement, with a challenge to accept Christ´´s sacrifice by being baptized. Then we leave the question of "hmm, why don´t any of the churches you know today have the same organization as that one Christ established?" with them)

So we set up a return appointment and went back. Cinthia had been cleaning the house and he said she had been all excited for us to get there. So we sat down, and the first thing she said was, "Hey, I wanted to tell you guys something. I was baptized in the Universal church like I told you but.....when I was baptized I didn´t feel anything. There was something missing." She said she and Wagner had already been to a million churches but hadn´t found one to stick with yet. So we told her in our message she would feel what she had been missing. They loved the restoration and agreed to go to church next week! I´m so excited about them - they remind me so much of Angela and Valdir, a couple from Camobi, who were introduced to the church with almost exactly the same age, when their two oldest kids were 2 and a baby...and now they´ve been members for 20 years, all sealed in the temple, the oldest is on a mission and the next oldest is preparing to go, etc.....I can just see Cinthia and Wagner in the same place in 20 years :D I´m SO excited to see what happens with them and so grateful to have the opportunity to work with them.

So this week actually went so much better than I was expecting, I think we´re already past the lost stage and now it´s just normal work! I´m so glad we got over the hurdles so fast. Now the only challenge is the World Cup!:P I didn´t tell you guys about that last week, but it´s....just as big a deal here as you would imagine. The normal games are always on, but life continues as normal...but when Brasil plays, people don´t work, kids don´t have school...life completely stops. (Oh yeah, a bunch of streets here are decorated, too, with huge murals on the sidewalks and green and yellow flags and streamers everywhere.) We have to go home during Brasil games, President´s orders, to not be tempted to watch and also not to be caught in any of the craziness. So we´ve been home for the three games so far, but it´s so cool to be sitting in our apartment and then hear the whole world take a deep breath and then explode in screams and cheers and fireworks when they score.

Also, this week was the festa de São João (remember two years ago when I wrote you about San Juan in Spain??) but no one did anything exciting. But I did see a few kids dressed like....country people? Farmers? Running around in the streets. So that was really cute. But, in a nutshell, everything here´s continuing amazingly! We´re getting so much heavenly help in this new area. I´m so excited to be here and work with all these amazing people. I know I´m here for a reason and I can help them change their lives by introducing the Spirit into their homes. I love you all so much and I´m so grateful for your love and support!

Til next week!
Sister Madsen