Week 58: The last week of the transfer and a Party at President's house!

This week started on a high note. We threw a surprise party for President Bangerter. My companion and I planned with Sister Bangerter to have a special surprise on Monday the17th for President´s birthday. His birthday was actually on Friday the 14th, but he was traveling for zone conferences so he wasnt in the city for his birthday. He got back on Saturday and we had the surprise on Monday. We coordinated with Sister Bangerter to make a big breakfast and we invited the assistants and their companions, and the couple senior missionaries (the Briggs). Another companionship arrived in Salvador early that same morning because I would be renewing their visas so they came along too. We also brought the elders that live with us. We all arrived around 7:30 am. on the 6th floor and quietly entered. So there we all were; me, Elder Costa e Silva, Elder High, Elder Jenkins, Elder Prado, Elder Da Silva, Elder Espirito Santo, Elder Opfar, Elder Nascimento, Elder Davis, Elder Cantuário, Elder and Sister Briggs, and President´s son Steven, waiting on the couches and chairs in the living room for President Bangerter to come out of his room at the other end of the house. Sister Bangerter had woken him up and had him put on normal exercising clothes as if they were going to go out to walk or run for exercise. Then she kept delaying him until we were ready for him to come out. Finally he walked out. When he came around the corner and saw all 15 of us stand up and sing, he was so embarrassed because he was in shorts, t-shirt and no shoes. He played it off well and we had a great time. We sang played a few games, then ate a huge breakfast that consisted of american pancakes, strawberry and whipcream, juice and other foods and fruits. It was DELICIOUS!  He shared with us some history and stories of his birth, how he got his name of Glenn Paulo Bangerter, and a few other interesting things about his family. Then we sang his favorite hymn O Ye Mountains High. He thanked us for the surprise and he took a selfie with us before we all left to work.

    The rest of Monday was spent renewing Elder Davis´s VISA and getting his RG ( a brazilian identity card). It´s easy to do, but it is a long tedious task that takes up most of the day. The rest of the week, while in the office, I worked on things that President has been asking us to do. In our area we are finding new people to teach and following up on the references that we got from last week´s exhibition. We are still teaching Manoela and her sister Fernanda. They both accepted the invitation to be baptized. Now we only need to teach them the commandments to see if they need to make any adjustments to prepare for their baptisms. They also need to go to church.  We are very happy with their receptiveness and progress.
 
    Well transfers have already arrived. Sunday afternoon we will know the transfer and Monday we will be buying all the bus passes for the whole mission for those who are transferred. I am very anxious to know what will happen. I know for sure that we are losing Elder High. He will be leaving the office to finish off his last 2 transfers in a different area. Maybe one of the assistants will be changed too. I am feeling mixed emotions about it. It will all turn out fine, but it won´t always be easy. There are lots of things that i feel unsure about.  I shouldn´t be nervous. I should just trust that I will be able to figure out all that needs to be done. Elder Costa e Silva told be that a 70 said that besides president of a mission, being the secretary is the hardest calling in a mission. That didn´t comfort me very much, but after thinking about it, it made me feel happy and confident that President Bangerter and the Lord trusts me in this calling. Elder Costa e Silva has been the financial secretary since May. I will probably stay with him for three or four months. It will be great.
On Friday the Senior Couple Missionaries , Elder and Sister Briggs, made us a pancake and egg breakfast, to commemorate because Elder High will be leaving. We found a cool selfie stick in the office that had been left there, so now we use it all the time.

  Our p-day today wasn´t anything really impressive. We went to our ward´s building around 12:00 to help out at a ´´mini MTC´´ activity. We ate lunch there too. We had our first lesson of the day marked for 4 pm so that didn´t give us time to do anything after the mini MTC.

 In our area we walk up a huge hill that has an incredible view almost everyday. In the 6 weeks that
 i´ve been here, it has been killing me that i still hadn´t taken a picture of this place. Finally i got one!

On Sunday, we left early to go to Manoela´s house to take her to church, but we never arrived there because the certain bus that we needed never passed by. So we didn't get to bring her to church. Diego and his wife (and their baby Diogo) came to church and the talks were on marriage, which is exactly what they needed to hear. To be baptized, Diego only needs to get married.

The first picture is a funny story. In that first picture in the favella, if you look closely on the right side of the picture, you will see two people standing inside of a white gate. We did a contact with that couple and taught them. We entered into their gate (´´patio´´) and we began teaching the the Restoration. The lessons was going incredibly well. They were paying close attention and answering the questions correctly. They had ´´the right´´ doubts too. We were just getting to the part in the lesson about the restoration / Joseph Smith, when a car rolled up, just outside of their house and began to blast REALLY LOUD music with all doors and trunk open, (not to mention it was inappropriate music too). It was so loud that we had to shout to hear each other, and it made it impossible to finish the lesson or even to pray. So we just scheduled another day to come back and finish the lesson, then we left. We didn't even pray. I turned around and snapped a quick picture as we were leaving because i thought it was funny how it turned out like this. I was also amazed at how loud of music that car was able to blast out. My companion was frustrated that it ended like this because the lesson was going so well. haha

The next picture is of our good friend Diego who is investigating the church. This Sunday was his 5th or 6th time going to church. He is liking it a lot, and we are helping him learn more about the commandments and about marriage.They are so awesome. Every single time we visit to teach Diego, his wife (girlfriend), who is a member, makes us food! We set a goal for him to be married on August 25th so he can be baptized soon after. He was a little shocked about how soon, but he accepted to think and pray about it. We have lots of faith in him. We also love his son named Diogo. Yes Diogo is the baby. He is 1 year and 2 months. Twice in a row when we left after visiting their family, baby Diogo tried to run out the door with us. He didn´t want us to leave. Then when his mom grabs him and we leave, he cries. We walk out of the apartment complex hearing him cry. Then we round the corner and look up to their apartment and he is there looking out the window at us. It is very funny and cute.