"This and That"

Things are really revving up here as we approach these last couple months of the mission. I thought I would at least try to record some short glimpses of what's been going on here. I can't keep up!

When we first arrived I wrote about an amazing young convert named Lucas. He has overcome many obstacles to prepare himself to go on a mission. A few weeks ago we were able to see him off on his mission to Manaus, Brazil. As you can see he is so full of light and excitement.

The three young men without ties and the young woman were recently baptized. They have powerful conversion stories. 

This is one of the beautiful women in the ward here. I love the African influence in this part of Brazil. 

Recent Mission council meeting. The Church is in good hands with the caliber of these young people as future leaders.

We participated in a YSA Conference held during Carnaval. Over 500 YSA were there. There was  a wonderful spirit there. 

We also spoke at an EFY here that was also held during Carnaval.  My light saber always comes in handy!

This is a beautiful couple that was baptized recently.  The father was then able to baptize his son. Such a lovely family!

We had to say goodbye to the Haslams. They were a missionary couple serving here from San Diego. It was their 3rd mission serving together in Brazil! And his 4th mission! They spent their mission here living in a tiny branch in a backwater town in our mission. They turned the branch around! They are some of my heroes and such a great example of the power of senior missionary couples. 

I love the traditional Bahian ladies attire

Some of the people in our ward have started to paint their houses bright colors. I love it! 

I had to ask this woman in the doctor's office if I could take a picture of her amazing dress! It was a good way to also start talking to her about the Gospel. 

While traveling through the countryside I made David stop at this roadside stand. 

We made Billie Junior's day because we had to buy several of his hand-carved bowls,including one which was the size of a small canoe. And of course we talked to them about the Gospel as well. They seemed pretty receptive after they saw how many bowls we were buying. :) 

Some of you may have seen in the Church News that the name of the man replacing David is David Lazenby. We seriously thought this was a joke at first! The good thing is that we can just cross out the I on our tags and replace it with an A. Just kidding. 

Seriously though,  it will be an easy adjustment for the members and missionaries to say his name. We have talked with them on the phone, and they are from Boston and are wonderful people and will do a fabulous job here! 

But we don't want to think too much about that quite yet! We still have much to do! 

Onward, Ever Onward!