Just typing an email to wish you all a very happy new year! My new year was pretty normal as a missionary. The 4 of us in the house woke up at 11:50 to do the countdown until midnight and the new year. I of course made some tereré to drink because that has become tradition for me on the mission at new years.lol. But we all went to our window to watch and see some fireworks... Unfortunately we only saw two fireworks go off. Fortunately is how we saw them. So across the street from our house is two churches that were just yelling ´´glory to God! hallelujah!´´ and a bunch of other apostasy. So they were having a huge party and some of the church dudes went out to set off the fireworks atmidnight. When they set them off they didn´t shoot up into the air but stayed on the ground! They were the fireworks meant for the sky but blew up on the ground! It was sooooo cool! I was laughing my head off as the dudes, pastors, started running and the other one went off on the ground as well! hahaha. I think it was like the most epic thing ever. Definitely worth waking up and watching. I even got it on video because I was recording with my camera. But unfortunately, I am not able to send videos because the files are too big. But my new years was super legit full of laughs, pastors, and firework bombs. :)
This week was fairly interesting. Last monday night we were out looking for an address and asked a dude on the road for help. He was on his phone and just told us he didn´t know. We kept walking and he was going the same direction as us but on the other side of the road. As we approached the other end of the road he called over to us ´´are you the mormons´´ and when anyone says that I immediately talk to them. So I went over to him and he told us he wants one of our books. Of course I had one with me but the tactics of the mission were on my mind, I told him that we have one for him but it´s in our house and we´d deliver it to him the next day. So we scored his address and number and went there tuesday night. At first he seemed like a really rough guy, tattoos, didn´t even shake our hands, and just seemed uninterested. But we sat down with him and started to talk about the book of mormon and why he asked for one. He said he had seen it online and was interested. I explained a little bit about the book to him and then he started asking if it was Moroni that buried it. I was super surprised because we hadn´t mentioned Moroni´s name at that point. Then we gave him the book and he said ´´i just feel exactly like joseph smith, really confused about all the religions here and want to know the truth.´´ I was just in awe because we hadn´t even talked about joseph smith either. The best part is his name, Whanderuarly. He is a stud. The only problem is that he is only here a few days of the week because he doesn´t live in our area but stays at his moms house. So we are going there later today and see if we can talk to him.
Another super awesome experience was new years day. No one is in the roads here because everyone travels and the people that were here were drunk or the designated driver (thank goodness some people have enough sense to have those here..) And we were walking and these dudes in a car stopped us and said ´´how does it work?`` they were wanted to know all about our religion because they are looking for changes in there lives. So we were super happy to give it to them. We marked a visit with them for the next day and taught about 5 people that seem interested. We are excited to continue working with them.
As far as a hard week goes to find people, the Lord really blessed us and helped us find His children that are lost and needing us. Unfortunately we haven´t been able to find many of our investigators with dates because they are all travelling. But we are doing our best. Another awesome story is that we did a contact with this lady a few weeks ago, we went there and she received us really well. She is super weird and seems like she isn´t understanding a single thing we say, but she is. We asked her if she would go to church with us because she lives on the same street and she said yeah. So we went by sunday and she was ready to go! She went with us and it was good. She told us about a dream she had where it was the end of the world and two men (us) were guiding her to safety. So for sure we are going to set a date with her for this transfer and we´ll see if the Lord will bless us. :) But we´re excited.
Mom had asked me about my new years resolutions and I decided I´d share some with you all. The goals I set last year I was able to complete and it made me super happy. The inspired goals I set last year CHANGED my life. At the time I didn´t even know why I was setting them, but I did as the spirit said and I can honestly say the goals were inspired for my life and this amazing work. This year I set some goals for the mission and after the mission. Some of my mission goals are to baptized every single transfer and work until the end returning with honor. I also am going to re-read the book of mormon in portugues again. I have also set some study goals to help me grow closer to my Savior. The goals I set for after the mission are to go to the temple once a week, continue my scripture studies, do family nights everyweek with y´all, and some other little things. But I know that goals are super important for us to grow and progress. I am super excited for this new year. It has been super strange this transition know that this year I will be home and studying, but it has also excited me and I am more ready than ever to keep working hard here doing the Lords work. I love you all and hope that this year starts off amazing for each of you! Loves and kisses!
com amor, Elder Patterson
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