It was a breath of fresh air!

Dear family,

This week was really... Interesting. P-day was basically the only normal day haha. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I left my area on divisions for the second time on my mission. Wahooo! I was with Elder J. Martinez. He's really cool and just about to finish his second transfer on the mission. He's from Colombia and speaks Spanish. At first I was nervous that he wouldn't speak very well and that I wouldn't understand anything he said, but after just a few short minutes with him, I knew there wouldn't be any problem. It's crazy how quickly native Spanish speakers learn Portugese! After almost 5 months in my area, going to an area that I had never been in before was like a breath of fresh air. It's crazy how quickly you get bored of the same scenery everyday as a missionary haha. 

Thursday was super cool. Last week, our stake had a caravan to the temple (Recife) basically everyone went... Including the Seminary teacher. And as you can probably guess, she asked us to teach for her. Seminary here is every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 6:30-7:30pm. Sooo everyone in our house took a day. Thursday was mine. At first I was a bit nervous (arriving half an hour late didn't help.. We were given the wrong time) but as soon as I entered the classroom, I was literally filled with the Spirit. It was such a great experience. I feel like I really connected with them. We went a bit over, but no one complained. The spirit was there and it was strong. 

Thursday night, our zone leaders called and said that they wanted to do a division with us. So Friday morning, I left my area again. I got on the bus and about an hour later, we arrived in Pedras (Area of the Zone leaders). It was my second time in their area, but again, it was a breath of fresh air. 

We returned on Saturday just in time for the baptism of Camilla. She is 18 years old and her life hasn't exactly been easy. I'll write more about her next week. All in all this week was a blessing for me. Filled with miracles and the Spirit. I know that what we're doing here and what missionaries are doing all over the world is the work of God. He isn't calling just a few. He is literally calling every single one of his children to repentance. We all need to change. If we and becoming better or at least trying every day, we can't pretend to be real followers of Christ. He came to the world to save us from sin. He already paid for every single one of them. Now is our part. We have to decide whether we will accept this huge gift that hes given to us. 

Eu sei que Jesus é nosso Salvador. Só por meio dele, nos podemos voltar para a presença do pai. 

Love you guys!!

Elder Hamstead

*we looked up the translation of Christopher's message above:

I know that Jesus is our Savior. Only through him, we can go back to his father's presence.