Friends and Family,

Well, with Elder Cook it was pretty neat. We all got to the chapel on time. It was a bit of an organizational nightmare with our Zone Meeting, lunches for everyone coming from out of town, and catching the right buses to Jardim da Penha. We rehearsed the hymn that we would be singing- 163 in the Portuguese hymnbook, called Ide Por Tudo Mundo. It doesn´t exist in the English hymnbook and is incredibly difficult to play. The whole mission was there and we must have sung it through fifteen times. Then I continued practicing and talking with past companions and friends. Then came the time for silence and prelude. For about twenty minutes we continued silent, and I played prelude. Then Elder Cook arrived and went up to the front. After he sat down, he looked at me and mouthed ´´KEEP PLAYING!!´´ So I kept playing three more hymns while he organized with President Araújo and then as all the missionaries formed a line to shake his hand, Sister Cook´s hand, and Elder and Sister Godoy´s hands (Area Presidency of Brasil). I kept playing, and then Elder Cook and Sister Cook came over to the piano as the hymn was ending and then shook my hand and asked me where I was from. Neat, huh?

Elder Cook gave a little introduction and then we sang Called to Serve. After, Elder and Sister Godoy spoke. Then Sister Cook got up and said, I wonder if Elder Bodily could come back to the piano? Then we sang Hark All Ye Nations in special parts. GOOD THING I KNOW HOW TO PLAY THAT HYMN. So, I´m already thinking, wow, I am participating a lot in this meeting.

Then Elder Cook got up to talk. It was all a really spiritual and fascinating meeting, and the talk of Elder Cook was the focal point. He talked about how the Lord feels about the missionaries that truly devote themselves during this time to his service. He talked about our duty as missionaries too. He taught us about D&C 31 and talked a lot about his role in the development of Preach My Gospel. Then he read the last two paragraphs in Preach my Gospel that talk about retention and activity in the church, and revealed that the words there are from a letter that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland wrote to him years ago. (PS, did you know that Elder Cook and Elder Holland were companions in the mission field in England??) Then all of the sudden he said, ´´I´m probably going to scare him to death, but I´m going to call Elder Bodily up here to the front.´´ I almost fell off of the pew.

I went up. You have to understand that Elder Cook was speaking English and there was a translator, so it was like ´´phrase in English by Elder Cook´´ and after ´´phrase in Portuguese by translator´´. He said, reactivation is just as important as baptism, isn´t it? Then he said, of course it is. I was just standing by his side wondering what on Earth was happening in front of everyone in the mission. Then he said, your mission president gave me a booklet with some of the informations of your mission and by far the zone that has the most reactivations up until now this year is the Cariacica Zone. Then he turned to me and said, Elder Bodily, you are the zone leader of which zone? I replied, Cariacica. Then he said. Tell us what you´re doing there to have all these reactivations, and then pushed me in front of the microphone.

Then I fainted and fell over backwards. Just kidding.

I talked a little about our zone goals, but complimented the missionaries of the zone and how their love for the wards and their members made a difference in the work, not only reactivation but baptisms as well. Then I was sent to sit down.

He finished his talk, I played absolutely perfect the special hymn 163, and then as he was leaving President Cook said over the piano, Thanks so much Elder Bodily, you did great!

All in all, an unreal experience.

Mara and Victória were baptized. It was awesome. Andressa, our last baptism catches the bus at the same bus stop as them, so they all went to church together. The baptism was really neat. Their home teachers were presented to them, there was a special musical number, and I had the privilege of baptizing Mara (the mom of Victória). I have some pictures included.

Elder Rossi and I get along really well and we work hard together.

We taught a crazy woman this week who said that she dreamed that we were in a state suffering, so she prayed for us the next three days. We taught a crazy man who doesn´t believe in God, but was intrigued by a man he saw on television who ate glass cups without it doing him any harm, and thought that that was proof that God exists. If you don´t understand this line of reason, don´t feel alone, you aren´t the only one.

We had a neat and spiritual experience. We were walking down the street trying to find an address when I asked for directions from a man on the street. When he replied he said, Can you pray for me? We said, in fact, we can visit you and your family right now, can we? He agreed and we went there and shared some scriptures. Neat, we will see what happens there. I think we are going to have another baptism this week, we´ll see.

Love,

Elder Bodily