transferred.. again?

We got a call last night at 10:30 that me and my companion would be transferred today. This came out of nowhere because it´s not even transfer week! I don´t know exactly why he took us out of the area now, but there was an elder in another area that finished his mission today so one of us had to take his spot. There won´t be any missionaries to replace us for now so the Nova Natal ward just has 2 missionaries. I got transferred to Cidade Nova which isn´t too far away from Nova Natal. I arrived here this morning and I´ll be in a trio companionship until the end of the transfer. My companions are Elder Oliveira and Elder Fernandes, both Brazilians. It´s the same Elder Fernandes that trained me! It was fun to see him again and to hear about what happened in Caicó after I left. He will finish his mission in 2 weeks. I don´t know much about my area yet. We live right next to some huge sand dunes so I´m excited for that! I was not expecting at all to leave Nova Natal yesterday. It´s too bad because we had the wedding planned for december, but maybe I´ll get permission to go back and see it.

Yesterday our stake had a great stake conference. A member of the seventy that lives in Brazil, Moroni Torgan, came and spoke. I´m always amazed by how strong the church is here and how much it has grown in recent years. The chapels here are just as nice or nicer than in the US, and most of the wards seem to be functioning pretty well. Lots of the leaders are young or are recent converts. In Caicó the bishop was 25 and had only been back from his mission for a few years. In the Nova Natal ward, the Elders Quorum president, primary president, and sunday school president are all recent converts of a little over a year. This is motivating for me to think that recent converts can go on to help the ward a lot in a short amount of time. It makes me anxious to find people to teach that have potential to strengthen the ward.

Sorry if I don´t give you enough updates about how I´m doing here. My first transfer was a little rough sometimes but things got a lot better after. I lived with Elder Wilson, an american elder from texas for several weeks in Nova Natal. He had served for 1 year in Washington and had just barely arrived in Brazil. He is doing well, but he had struggles adjusting to things. He would talk to me about how much he missed his mission in the US and how hard it was for him to be here. I really am doing well though. Thanks for always sending me good updates from home and pictures!  I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving this week. I´m sure thursday won´t feel anything like thanksgiving for me haha.

Love you all, and I´ll write again next week!

Elder Church