So as I told you all a couple of weeks ago here in Palmas they are having the World Olympic Games of Indians and it started this week. Its been pretty huge. The president of brasil came and opened the games and everything. But as I told all of you last week it has been super super hot here and when all the indians got here from all around the world, they got together and did a rain dance. The next day it rained! haha. I thought it was funny because with all your combined prayers and the dance of the indians we finally got two or three rainy days this week :) Pretty good stuff if you ask me.
This week me and Elder Burock did something super different and super fun. One of the members of the church works at a school here and her friend she works with wanted to talk to us because I am american. So she called us early in the week and invited us to come and talk a little bit about my culture, the language, my mission, and what we are doing here. So we called and got permission from our leaders to go there and talk with them. We went early wednesday morning to talk to the teacher and it was sooo weird walking into a school (let alone a Catholic school) because it has been so long since I have been to school. haha. But we got there and met with her in the teachers lounge and she told us that she has 6 classes and wanted me to talk a little bit about the stuff I already said. So she invited us back to teach after lunch for the whole afternoon. We of course accepted.
After lunch on Wednesday we went back to the school to teach. So this is how it went: The teacher showed a slideshow of pictures from Utah (man I miss Utah, its so beautiful) and then a little video of Salt Lake and parts of the State. She then explained that thats where I am from, that I am an american and then I presented myself in english and she tested everyone to see if they understood what I said (because its an english class). After all the kids 15-17 years old were able to ask me questions. The funny part was is that they had to ask in english and I would reply in portugues so they would understand. But it was soooo funny because once I started talking they all started screaming and shouting because nobody knew that I speak portugues. It was such a blast. But it was one of the most tiring days ever because we did that for about 6 hours, each class was an hour long. It was also great because I was able to explain to about 300 youths who we are, our purpose as missionaries, and share a little about the gospel. We weren´t able to teach our normal lessons but the teacher gave us a notebook and let all the kids write their names and addresses if they wanted to learn more. We were able to get lots of names and references to visit! It was sooo awesome. A great experience for sure.
The rest of the week we worked really hard and visited lots of people. We also have been doing lots of family nights here and that has been amazing. We have definitely seen lots of amazing things start to happen here in Porto Nacional. There is still LOTS of work to be done here in this area, and it needs to start with the members because they are lazy and don´t help. But we are seeing small changes and thats all that matters. As long as this area continues to change little by little soon the Lord will make that the little things become strong and big. It truly is the Lords work and He knows the hearts of all the people here, missionaries, members, and investigators and He is in charge. We are just here to help everyone understand that.
Alright, sooooo some news. Like I said last week, today is transfers! Woohoo. And I have officially been transfered! I am going to be heading to Palmas 2!!! And my companion will be Elder Medina, from Paraguay. He is the one that I lived with for three months in Luziania. I love him so much and the area! The other exciting thing is that I am going to be zone leader. Its definitely going to be a very exciting change. I am honestly so excited to be there with him back in an area that I already know and love. And I know that we are going to work super hard and well together. :) So I will leave Porto today (with my 3 suitcases... can you believe it mom? I have so much stuff... haha!) and we will go to Palmas to stay the night. AND the other exciting and fun thing is that we got permission to go and watch the indian games!!! We are super excited to go and watch. We have heard lots of cool stuff already. But this is basically what has happened this week. I love you all so much and thank you all for the prayers on my behalf. Tenham uma semana ótima!!!
com muito amor e sol, Elder Patterson
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