September 21, 2011

Oi Família,

Not too much news for this last week. Last tuesday we had the baptism of a little girl in our ward named Camila. It went really well and we had a couple non members there including her dad. It is always great to see baptisms because it means another person who opens the gates to the Celestial Kingdom and will make it to the Celestial kingdom if they do what is right with all their force until the end. On wednesday we tried to visit a bunch of less actives to help with the ward attendance. We found out that alot of the houses didn´t exist or the people moved. We visited Marroni at night and he seemed like he was not very interested in baptism anymore we tried to get him excited again but it didn´t really work too much. We also visited Vanderlei and Viviane and their kids were there as well. Vanderlei said he started to read the Book of Mormon as well as their 9 year old daughter Kauane. It was great and the only sad part of the lesson is that we found out the need to get married before they can be baptized, which getting married in Brasil takes a long time to get paperwork and everything done. But they definately are progressing and i am sure one day they wil be baptized. On thursday we went to a churrasco (BBQ) place in Estrela with one of the members. It was really good. We also had English class at night, which was really fun because we taught them the song "head shoulders knees and toes" and had each of them do it individually in front of everyone else there. Then we had our meeting with our ward mission leader and he gave us alot of really good ideas to try working with the ward. As for friday we had lunch with the Bishop and his family, it was really good. Sadly that day my toe was hurting really bad. It had been hurting a little bit for awhile but i thought it was just because of walking so much. I found out it was another ingrown toenail and on the same toe. So i had to go looking for a foot doctor, we had to go to Estrela to find one that had time for us. He took it out and it was about 3 times bigger than the last one. He cauterized it so that i supposedly should not get another ingrown toenail and also gave me some cream to be putting on top of my toenail. He also put a bandage/cast on it to keep it protected. I had to stay in the night, saturday, and sunday and until there was no pain according to Sister Pavan. I had to use sandals on Saturday to got to lunch but luckily we got a ride there and back from members. On sunday we had church and i wore regular shoes but it was killing my toe. Cleber, Francine, Thayla and a friend of Camila who was baptized were at church. Then we had lunch and luckily it was close to our apartment so i didn´t have to walk to far. The whole time staying in the house all i did was read scriptures and watch The Testaments and Preach My Gospel DVD´s. On sunday night we visited João and Camila and we watched The Testaments with them and tlked a bit about the Book of Mormon. On monday my toe was still not doing to great so we didn´t do anything until the night. We went and helped with a ward activity since it was a holiday yesterday and they were celebrating it the night before. It was Gáucho day which is the day when all the people from Rio Grade do Sul (the state that my mission is in) celebrates for being a state and no longer being owned by Portugal or something like that. The celebrate it by having a big party the night before and then spend all day at home on the holiday. At the ward activity they had a dinner, and a dance group came an did a bunch of dances. It was alot of fun but we didn´t get to stay for it all because it went past 9:30 which is our time to e home. It was alot of fun. Yesterday everything was closed since it was a holiday and that is why i am e-mailing today. Well that is about all that has happened this week. Love you all.

Love Elder Cefalo