Eric is transferred and Nick is cold

From Elder Nick Olsen:

Well gente. BOA SEMANA!!!!!

BATISMOOOOO!!! Sort of haha. So a while ago we met a guy in the street named Saymom (pronounced like Simon but Simon in Port is Simão) and taught him the first lesson. It turned out that his girlfriend is a member, and that he was already taught a little bit in Brasília where she is studying. But he is in the Air Force, so between a lot of time on the base and at his girlfriend's house (she lives in the other ward), he didnt have time to meet with us. But he did have time to meet with the sisters in his girlfriends house! So haha I dont really count it as my first baptism, BUT fortunately I got to participate in the ordinance which was an awesome experience. And really really cold!

Speaking of cold, it gets to like 60 degrees at night here so I am pretty much freezing to death! Ever since I arrived in São Paulo I dont use a blanket, but ever since I arrived in Anápolis I have had to use one!

So I was not transferred, but we do have a new District Leader from Belém, and he's super animado. Also 2 new zone leaders and they are too. One day the ZLs called me and said "do you like american football? remember that super bowl last year? the 49rs were losing and then the lights went out, and they almost came back to win. right now, the lights just went out, so now lets work hard!" or something. And right after my DL called and said "what did Jesus do after he died? he preached the gospel in the spirit world and worked right? So we have 3 days before Sunday, lets work!" or something like that! and I was like, what is this, the day of analogies? haha but it was good, at least they're excited.

In respect to the World Cup, haha you wont believe it. People were mad, mad, mad. But everyone and their mom immediately turned to conspiracy theories! I had from "because Brasil already has a lot and so everyone would get mad if they won again" to "If Germany didn't win it would start world war 3, so FIFA gave it to them." Seriously.

I stayed in the Sacrament Meeting of the other ward this week to see our friend get confirmed, and realized that there are Americans there! One guy said he is studying at the U of U, I didn't get the chance to ask why he is here (although i know he's married to a brasileira and has kids) but he doesn't speak any Portuguese haha. Also a family in which the mom served a mission at Temple Square and the dad in Colorado, and they invited us to have dinner with them today! so that will be exciting.

I am a little bit discouraged this week, but in good spirits anyway. I just feel like maybe there is something I'm not getting, so please pray for me to discover what I need to change or do differently. Sometimes the Lord leaves us sozinho to let us learn something, and so I am trying to figure out what I have to learn in this moment.

Thank you for your prayers and your testimonies, it is good to know that you are so strong in the faith, and it strengthens my faith too.

Love,
Elder Nicholas Olsen

From Elder Eric Olsen: 

Caro família,

Minha nova área se chama Terra Vermelha - e eu tenho Terra Vermelha cobrindo todas minhas calças!  (My new are is called Red Earth and I have red earth covering my pants!) It it super muddy here!

So I am back in Vila Velha - before I left Colatina I received 3 colognes as presents from members! Haha and 2 were women's perfumes,.. oh well, they are presents so I will use them anyway! Apparently I am the first white American in this area for over a year - something about the last American here was threatened by a drug dealer? ........But no worries! 

MY new companion is Elder Cervantes - he is from California, but his parents are Mexican. He baptized com força the last transfer - but we are still working a lot to strengthen the recent converts. They are not very firm in the church yet...

But as soon as I got here, we started teaching a group of youth. They are super receptive - and two are twins! So we have a special bond haha - Gustavo and Guillerme. Three of them came to church with us. During sacrament meeting, I didn't have a hymnbook, so I was kind of fake-singing-mouthing the words to the hymns in English, and one of the twins ran over from his seat and gave me the book he was using. It was super cute! I felt like he really loves and respects me. Unfortunately, the parents aren't very receptive and won't let them be baptized, so I will be praying for the Lord to soften their hearts.

Also something really funny happened yesterday - it was basically a commerical, but real life. We were walking past these men working consrtuction on a house,  and one of them yelled - STOP STOP EVERBODY STOP. And everyone stopped. He went inside the house and came back out with beer and cups - everybody started cheering - haha we couldn't stop laughing! At least they have their priorities straight!

I love you all very much. Thanks for the support and prayers.

Elder E Olsen