Caico Week 2

Here´s another picture of my district in the CTM with both of our instructors

One of the temples we attempted to build during the ward activity :)

Our chapel

This week we had several street contacts that had given us their addresses and agreed to have us come back for another visit. So we were able to spend a lot of our time going to houses and trying to teach lessons. It´s been very hard to find people at home though. I think there was one day when we stopped by 5 or 6 different houses and none of our investigators were home. Elder Fernandes is good at staying positive, but he says this isn´t normal. We did get to teach a couple of great lessons this week though. One of the members in our ward gave a reference to Elder Fernandes of a mother and daughter that he knew. The mom is in her 50s and the daughter is in her 20s. They are both religious people but haven´t been going to any church. We´ve stopped by their house pretty frequently and committed them both to baptism!

On Saturday we had our second English class. Several more people came this time! I think there were over 70. I heard that they played ads on the radio for our class. We divided them up into classes this time. A majority of them don´t speak any english, but there are a few who speak a little bit and a few who are nearly fluent. I am teaching the advanced section which is good for me because I can communicate with the students in English. I was worried there wouldn´t be very many in my section, but there were 12. For the first class I just talked back and forth with them to try to get a sense of their abilities. A few of them speak very well already, so I´m trying to figure out what I´ll teach. One of the members here speaks english and teaches it. He has lesson plans so I think he´ll help us out.

Saturday night we had Integration Night at the church. It´s kind of like mutual night, but everyone is invited. It´s mainly youth who attend though. It was a lot of fun! We had a competition of building temples with cookies and frosting. A couple from the ward also talked about temples and eternal families. I definitely think it was a success. A few non-members that came to english class also came to integration night. And one of them even asked if he could come to church the next day. The missionaries put this activity together with help from a couple members. Danilo is one who has been very helpful! He´s only 19, and he has his mission call to serve in England in a few months. He does so much to help the ward. He teaches gospel principles class on Sunday, he used to be young men´s president until he was released last week, he was the main one in charge of putting together english class, and he helps with all the activities. We usually meet with him several times during the week.

On Sunday morning we worked hard to try to bring investigators to church. But since they live in different parts of town, Elder Fernandes and I split up and went with members to different houses. But unfortunately we couldn´t get anyone to come.

Yesterday we went to the houses of three different members with the Sisters. They love talking to us and giving us food. All the people here love having long conversations. During the evenings we see lots of people sitting outside in chairs talking with their families and neighbors.

It´s definitely still hot here! And I don´t think it ever gets cooler than this. I´m learning to love it though. On the edges of town it´s pretty rural. Dirt roads, cows, horses, goats, etc. There are also LOTS of cats here that just wander the streets. Not many dogs though for some reason.

The work here continues to be tough for me because my communication skills are limited, but I am getting used to it and making progress. I really like it here though and I have a lot of fun! The members are great, and just all the people in general!

I miss everyone at home! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Church