Pushing to our Breaking Point

This has been my busiest week by far since I left Salgueiro. Fortunately, it started off and ended with Brasil playing in the world cup (AKA days that we can't leave the house). I'm not sure if I already told you guys this or not, but my companion right now hit 1 year right before I arrived. My first 2 companions of my mission were what we call trabalhadors (trabalho=work, trabalhadors=workers). You have no idea how much I miss really working. In Pacajus (my current area) my companion is convinced that as long as we have the "average" numbers, we're doing great. Unfortunately for him, I'm here to serve the Lord. The Lord doesn't expect just average. He expects us to do everything that we possibly can. Many people in the USA and here have this misconception with the word "grace". They think that as long as we do "ok", as long as we do "average", the Lord will do the rest. THIS IDEA IS TOTALLY AND UTTERLY WRONG. If we dont push ourselves to our breakingpoints, he wont be able to be there at the end waiting to catch us. We arent all the same, we all have different breakingpoints. For this reason none of us have any right to judge. We don't, and we can't, know when someone is doing their best. The only people that know if we're really pushing ourselves are... Ourselves (obviously) and our Father in Heaven. 

This last week, I really had the opportunity to push myself. Elder Aron (My companion/District leader) went on splits twice, leaving me in my area with 2 different Elders (The first was an American with 5 months in Brasil that can barely speak Portuguese. He was stateside for like 4 months beforehand and lost everything he learned in the MTC, The other was a Brazilian with the same problem as my comp). The first day I found 22 new investigators and the second l found 19. We already have baptismal dates with a handful of them. The average (and the standard) for our mission is 20 per week... Just imagine how many baptisms we would be having every week here if our standard were double!! I'm gonna keep trying to keep our numbers up.

So this Sunday, about 10 minutes before church started, the Bishop of our ward asked me to speak (in sacrament meeting). I was terrified. I got up onto the stand, said a prayer, and almost immediately felt impressed to talk about member missionary work. I have no idea how, but I was able to speak for a little under 15 minutes!! You have no idea how strongly I felt the Spirit while talking. I wish you guys could have seen it!! Such a great experience.

Elder Hamstead

The World Cup is here!

Sooooo this week was really interesting. I think that I forgot to tell you guys last week, but on days that Brasil plays in the World Cup, we (missionaries) have to stay in our house all day long. Last Thursday was the first game. Having 6 missionaries in our house was definitely a blessing on that day haha. I didn't get bored once haha. We played Uno for hours, I wrote a couple of letters, read a bunch, and played a bit of indoor soccer haha. Tomorrow is gonna be the second game of Brasil.. Wish us luck! This week was also the first time that I went on splits with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Cabral, an Elder with 23 months on his mission. I feel like I learned a bunch from him! 

Oh ya, I'm in Fortaleza... Again haha. President Fusco called us up last week and informed us that I would need to come to Fortaleza this week to have a full blood exam (12 different tests..... I hate needles sooooo much!). The results will be in in an hour or 2 and President said that he would call you guys when he has them (a couple days more). Oh almost forgot!! Next Pday, Brasil will be playing again. Sooo hopefully I'll be able to email on Tuesday. 

Mom! I knew they'd choose you!!! They'd have to be stupid not to. Don't worry, you were chosen for a reason... You're the best! At first you'll probably find it difficult (like I did on my mission) but the more time you spend with it, the more you'll become part of it and it'll become part of you. Just always do everything the way you feel like it needs to be done (lean on the Lord / Pray a lot. He'll tell you what to do). 

I love you so much!!!! 

P.s.

ALL the Elders (Except my companion ;) ) I live with want to marry Kelsey.....

P.p.s.

Not sure if youve already seen this video, but its awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU

P.p.p.s.

If you guys could print and send your emails that way, that would be awesome :) I don't mind if they're old. Right now I can only feel close to you guys by reading your letters on 1 day of the week.

Loving Portuguese and my new area (June 9)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Ok, so as of this week our Internet rules have changed. We now only have one hour for email every week. Because of this, I'm gonna ask you guys to send your weekly letters by mail. You can still write it the same way, just instead of hitting send, hit print :). My last letter from the States (from the Stake Presidency) arrived here in a little under 2 weeks. The backlog (<-not sure if this word is right) of letters from the big mail strike has finally cleared up. Soooooo ya.. Please do that!! :). 

My first day in the new area

Elder Rodriguez's last day in the area

The chapel!

The stake center

Our house situation here is still unresolved. We now have 6 missionaries living in the house (2 more than when I arrived) and no time frame on when Sao Paulo will clear our contract so we can move in. Hopefully its soon! Living in a house with 4 missionaries living out of suitcases isn't super fun haha. Buttttt the chapel here is AWESOME!! Much better than my last one ;). We meet in the stake center soooo it's huge!! I'll send pics. 

Ok so last week, Elder Aron and I were invited to take part in the training of new missionaries in Fortaleza! I was super excited! This never happens! We packed our bags (we would be there for 3 or 4 days) the night before. Right before we went to bed, we received a call.. We wouldn't be going to Fortaleza anymore. Why? Because there was gonna be a big protest on the day that we were going to travel and it was too dangerous for us to leave (Mom, don't worry. This protest was in Fortaleza, nowhere near me.). Not gonna lie, I was pretty upset. The good news is that now, I'm grateful that we were able to stay here and meet the people. They're so awesome!! This last Sunday was Stake Conference so I haven't really had a chance to meet most of my ward, but the Bishop and the few members I've already met are AWESOME! 

Ok, quick update on my Portuguese. I can now understand basically perfectly (Unless the person has a wacky accent), I can read really well, annnd I feel like I've slowed down in my learning of how to speak. Its weird, when I first got here, I was much better at speaking than understanding. Now it's the opposite! I think my problem is that every day I prayed to be able to understand and never said anything about speaking... Oops!! But I'm starting to love Portuguese SOOOOO much! Not as much as I love you guys ;)... Buuuuut a lot! 

Love you guys so much!!