Happy days!

Hey everybody!

Glad to hear Matt, Nat, and kids had such a fun time in São Paulo! The kids didn´t like fresh squeezed OJ?? Oh well, I didn´t either as a kid, but I grew up, at least a little bit. And congradz to Clay and Kim! I didn´t see all the pics but it looks like everything went great!

Speaking of great -- great news! Rafael is going to be baptized this Saturday! Thank you all for the prayers that were offered. The work is moving forward! I´ll give more details next week when it´s all a done deal. But the Lord has been blessing us as we apply ourselves to working hard, focusing on the right things that matter, and seeking His will. Thanks again for your support, love, news, and prayers. Tchau!
--Elder Ellis V

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Hello!

Hello Happy Family!

I was very tempted in that last email to say that I my legs had been mauled off by a pack of Açorian pirate dogs that had made it to the mainland on a crazy rampage, or something silly, but I resisted temptation, boring old me. Thanks again for the emails! I´m glad Mom, Dad, and Em in São Paulo will have a fun time with Matt, Natalie & kids. And I´m also happy Kev´s ankle surgery went well. (How are the rest of ya´ll?)

Just to give ya´ll a heads up, there´s some thing going on with the myldsmail accounts being renewed, so if there are any mess ups it´ll probably be because of that. In the meantime, keep sending your awesome emails to this email and everything should work out fine.

So this week went well. I already told ya´ll about the zone activity the zone leaders planned, which was cool. Multiple uses of the word there - it was fun, and ridiculously cold with the wind and rain. But all is well! Elder McFarren and I are doing what we can, and we are being blessed with the progress of Rafael. He´s the boyfriend of a less-active girl and he´s coming along great. Yesterday he was actually the driving force to get him, his girlfriend and her older sister and younger brother to church, and we invited him to pray about being baptized on the 27th of this month, and he said he would. I love the gospel!

So everything is going well. I´m looking forward to that Valentine´s package from Mom (and any others that might be sent as well). Thanks for your prayers and support! (Specifically, if you could pray for Rafael´s continued progress and that Elder McFarren and I can find the ready elect, I thank you very much!) Well, I love all of you! Have a great week! Tchau!

--Elder Ellis

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No need to fear...

...Elder Ellis V is still here! Well it seemed only Mom and Dad seemed to miss me, but don´t worry, I´ll still send this to all ya´ll. But seriously, I apologize for slacking on the past two Mondays. If I was irresponsible, I´d blame the zone leaders, but since I´m not, I won´t.

Since I missed not one but two email sessions I asked President Torgan to let me let ya´ll know that I´m ok. Monday February first the zone leaders (Elder Perkes from my MTC group and Elder Nixon whose family lived in São Paulo also) came to LAV to play Settlers (Elder Nixon´s got it in Portuguese). Due to complications which I will skip over, only the zone leaders were able to do their internet and Elder McFarren and did not have time to so do. And this past Monday, February 8, the zone leaders had planned this ´surprise´ zone P Day activity to go to the dedicatory site in Sintra, but things didn´t work out so well, and with cold wind and rain coming down on us along with public transportation and other fiascinhos, we didn´t make it back to our area till after 7, again leaving no time for internet. So don´t worry lovely family! All is well with your favorite Elder Ellis in Portugal!

So life is great and the work is moving on! We got a list of part member families from the bishopric last night and we´re excited to try working with them, as well as passing by the other less actives the bishopric has given us. Other than that, we´re trying to find and focus on the elect. Cadu needs help finding his answer and own desire to be baptized, and Rafael (boyfriend of a less active who´s coming back) is nice and interested and coming along. Thank you for your past and continuing prayers! And thanks also for the pictures and updates. Sorry about Kev´s ankle. Happy Birthdays to Christa and Ethan! Dad and Em - I got the letters ya´ll wrote around the 18/21 of January - thanks! I love all ya´ll and hope you have a great rest of the week! Love,

--Elder Ellis V

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.