Constant Changes

Hello beloved family!

 

Well, great to know where Mom and Dad are moving to! Centerville... sounds like fun! Well, lots of things have happened this last week, and we´re getting news of all the transfer happenings. One of those is Elder Bennett will be transferred to Caldas da Rainha - one of my previous areas! - and Elder Francisco Xavier Matos Dias (Elder Dias is wonderfully simpler) will be my new companion and fellow financial secretary. I finally get to serve with a native!

 

Anyways, on to what happened this past week. Last Monday night we had a lesson with a man who had gone by the church the previous Friday wanting English lessons. We weren´t at the church, but the members there took down his name and phone number and we called him up later and set up an appointment. So, back to Monday, we made it to his apartment and met him and his wife. She´s quite the evangelical, but very nice, and he seems to remember a lot of what missionaries had previously taught him while he was also having English lessons. Cool stuff, and we´re looking forward to working with them.

 

On Wednesday President Torgan rode back with us (Elder Bennett, myself, the executive secretaries, and the assistants) from our lunch out, and he mentioned how his favorite soccer team in Belém had moved to the second division. I forgot what that meant, and in an attempt to be conversational and polite I had said ´oh, that´s good...´ but he said, ´No, it´s not! They moved down!´ Oops! But then he continued, `Don´t worry, they´ll beat everyone in the second division and move back up soon.´ My reply slipped off my tongue rather too quickly. `What, just to move right back down again?´ Haha, he seemed surprised that such a comment had come from quiet soft-spoken me, and finally gave me a semi-hurt look and said ´Oh Elder Ellis, what´s all this shooting down my team for?` Good times. I myself am still a São Paulo and Sporte fan!

 

But the best news of all is that Fábio´s out of his rut! We had been praying a lot for him, and he had been praying a lot too, and his opportune moment to talk to his parents about investigating the Church and being baptized finally came - ironically during the Pope´s visit to Portugal. Apparently the Pope said something that his parents didn´t like that much, or something or other, and he took that opportunity to relate with them that he didn´t think it was fair having to ´stay´ Catholic just because he was born to his Catholic parents, and told them he was investigating and felt good about another Church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and they gave their permission to continue and be baptized! God answers prayers! So Fábio finally made it to Church, and since he is so elect he came with dress shoes, slacks, white shirt, and tie, everyone thought he was already a member. We´ll wrap up the finishing teaching touches and pray with and for him to know when - how soon - he should be baptized.

 

Well, glad to hear everyone is preparing for another fun family reunion, and all the other details that I hear. Have a great week! Much love,

--Elder Spencer Ellis

PS - Happy Belated Birthdays to Mom and Kit! Hope they were the greatest with the best yet to come!

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