Aurora

Gente,

I was transferred to Ala Aurora. The Aurora Ward. In the city of Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro. I am now serving in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Four and a half hours from Vitória. The city here has five wards. The Campos Stake also has two branches.

My companion is Elder Collins, from Deer Park, Washington. His first companion was Elder Wilson. This is my first time with an American junior. He has much less time on the mission than I do, and so I have to understand and speak everything better than him. If I don´t understand something, it is almost certain that he didn´t also. But he is a good speaker and really puts in his effort. He is taller than me and bigger than me and looks older than me, so everyone thinks he is the senior. Funny.

Ala Aurora has been very good to us. We both arrived together in the area. AGAIN. So we are having to get to know everyone from scratch. But the experience has been the opposite of the Anchieta experience. There are so many good members here. They have helped us immensely and even helped us find people to teach. We still get lost and I use the map a lot, but we are getting a grip on the area. We live with the missionaries from the neighbor ward, Ala Turf. We also share the beautiful and recently renovated chapel. We live close to the downtown of Campos. It is a gorgeous city on a wide river. It is relatively cool here as well. Breezy and not too humid. Everything is flat flat flat for as far as the eye can see. The house is very old and has cockroaches, but it is spacious. I am no longer a district leader. Elder Anderson and Elder Gneiting are training this transfer. That means their companions are brand new missionaries from the MTC.

We are teaching the sister of a newly baptized member. She is about 50 years old and her name is Maria. She has had a really rough life. She is seeking to have more peace and more of God in her life because of all the turbulence she has experienced. Her sister Edna is super active in the church.

We are teaching the boyfriend of a member. He is 16 and is named Alexandre. He is more or less interested, but has already visited the church several times.

We are happy to be here, and we have a lot of hope that things will turn out great here in Aurora.

The missionaries of Ala Turf are Brazilans. Elder J. Lima (he was in my last district) and Elder de Olivera (hilarious, 23 years old, very new missionary).

I am going to try to send some photos now. Probably from Anchieta.

Tchau!