Week 61

hello family!

so this weeks problem with the computer is that the space bar doesnt work very well..,. its funny how there is ALWAYS a problem :) i got sooooo excited when i saw the pictures of baby sophie! she is so cute and has so much hair! mel and dave will be great parents. some day i iwll have the same luck! to respond to the question about the mission, i recommend bringing a fitted and a flat sheet. i sleep in my hammock every once in a while, but not always. 

so today is transfers! i just found out now actually! i will stay here with my companion, but the argentino will leave. this transfer will be another 5 week transfer, so it will pass really fast! im glad that i am staying :) the branch president told us that he likes us so much that he called the mission president and told him that we have to stay here to help the branch :) 

so this week was full of adventures and divisions. on tuesday i went to a city called altos to work with elder black. it was really fun to work with him again and we had a great time. the day i was there was the day they were having the biggest party during the year. Ive never seen so many drunk people! there were tables and chairs that filled the whole city and everybody was drinking! all the people would just pee in the street and keep drinking. it was really interesting. one really cool thing that happened is that we saw monkeys! you can see him in the picture :)

thursday we had a big family night really far away from home. it was at the house of a member, and he invited a bunch of his buddies. it was really fun and had really good food :) as it was ending, it started to rain REALLY hard. its starting to rain alot here and it was not the best time to  rain because we had to get home and we were super far away.

on friday, thepresident passed by our house really fast, so that was a surprise! he was just dropping off some supplies. i also got some letters! that is alwaysfun :) when we went to visit a member her cousin surprised us and was there. i dont remember if you guys remember hearing about Naira, but we almost baptized her a while ago, but she had to return home. it was really fun to see her again and talk abit. she is just here for 10days and will return.

saturday i traveled in the morning to altos to do a baptismal interview and in the afternoon i did a division. i never worked much in my area this week. its nice to mix things up every once in a while. at night we had another really cool family night that was also very far from home. it was definitely worth the walk though. 

yesterday we had a very tasty lunch, which is always a good thing. we passed the whole day in meetings which made it so we couldnt work, but we made some really cool plans with the branch. at night, we all woke up when we heard some noises outside. some people had climbed the front of our house at midnight and got onto the balcony. they stole our two fans that were outside because we had been cleaning. it was kind of scary and now im nervous that someone will break into the house. i will buy some more locks today!

gabriel blessed the sacrament which was SO cool to watch. i loved it :) 

i'm super happy and everything is great! ilove you all! 

-Elder Lambert

Week 60

Hello my family!!!

this week was yet another great week in my life as a missionary. i bet you guys are getting sick of me saying that, but it happens every week! being a missionary is so great :) this week we received mail and it was great to get some of the MissionTies letters and hear about the updates of the fam! mel sent me a picture and is soo big! i never imagined that a girl so small could get so fat! i also loved the picture of anne and her new disney sandals+her thankyou card! i'm glad you guys are enjoying the juices. if there are any you guys really like, let me know and i will buy more. i tried to buy all the kinds that they dont have in the US. i also got a letter from Elder Paxman, or now Tanner. it was so weird to get a letter knowing that he is already home! time flies huh? before you know it, i'll be going home too. its so nuts because i got an email from one of my buddies, kailey sherman, and she will be going to the brasil fortaleza mission! thats my next door neighbor! its sooo crazy how much stuff is happening in this time that i am gone. i left home and the US got all crazy! i think i need to return soon :) transfers will already happen next tuesday! its nuts that i might only have 8 more days here...

sooo gabriel... he is great as always! he received the aaronic priesthood this sunday, but it was after the meetings so it didnt work for him to pass the sacrament. we will try to leave with him a couple times this week to do some visits with us! he has some friends that he wants us to visit. 

we had a really cool zone conference on tuesday and we learned some cool stuff. the president promised us that if we have 12 families in our teaching group, we will baptize every week of our misison. we started working to expand our group. its so hard to find so many families! we will keep trying. this week we cut alot of people and tried to find new to refresh our group. after the conference, one of the zone leaders traveled back with me so we could do a division. it was fun working with him and we had a good time. on thursday, i did another division with the other elders in our house. its always fun to work with other people and get to know the investigators in their areas. this week i will do three more divisions! life is busy as a leader, but way fun!

we are working really hard to baptize mirismar and her two kids. the kids already accepted, but she is a little hesitant, she knows the church is true and that she needs to be baptized, its just that she is afraid to fall away afterwards. we will keep working alot with her and try to baptize her family on the 30th of this month! i will keep y'all updated! 

lately we have been able to work alot with the members in the branch. its really cool because they all love us so much! the presidency of the branch is super excited to work with us too. they tell us we are the best companionship that has passed through campo maior in a long time :) its nice to be recognized every once in a while for our work! 

i love you all and will keep you in my prayers! keep me updated on EVERYTHING!

-Elder lambert

Week 59

hellllllllllllllllllllooo!!!!

that was such a shock to hear that tanner is already home!! wow, time flies so fast! . i'm so excited to hear about the baby! be sure to take LOTS of pictures and send them to me! 

im glad that you got my package! i was so nervous when i sent it because it was SUPER expensive... i wanted to tell you guys so you could wait for it to come, but i also wanted it to be a surprise. i hope everyone likes everything!

on tuesday we had a zone meeting again which means we woke up at 4:45 to travel! yay! the meeting was great and we also had a leadershiop meeting after. it was fun to talk about all the interesting stuff with the leaders. sadly, i received no letters at the meeting :( i was thinking about some things that you guys could send me :) one, is voice recordings! one time dad sent me one of his car and i put it on a USB and listened to it in the house. just record it on dads iphone and email it to me. also deodorant. i am about to start my last one. send me more than one if possible, then you can wait a bit to send more. 

gabriel is doing great, he is preparing to recieve the priesthood next sunday and he will bless the sacrament! 

there is a lady who is in our ward and her daughter just moved in with her. her name is mirismar. her mom brought her to church two weeks ago and we started to teach her and her two sons. they are super cool and went to church this last week too. they liked the message of the restoration and will read and pray about the BOM. i think it is very possible to baptize these people soon! the only problem is that if she cant find work before the end of the month, she will have to move back to southern brasil. we are trying to help her find a job so that she can stay :) i know that if she stays, one day she will be baptized, i just dont know if she will stay or if i will still be here. this transfer is only 5 weeks, so there are just two more weeks! it is so cool to see how gratefull this lady's mom is that we are helping. it has been her dream to have the rest of her family enter the church, but nothing has ever happened. this is the perfect opportunity to fulfill her dreams! its so cool how as missionaries, we can be the answers to people's prayers. 

sorry that this weeks email wasnt THAT exciting, there wasnt much that happened this week. i'm looking online for cool portuguese scriptures to buy and keep as a keepsake.

i love you all!

-Elder Lambert

Week 58

gabriels baptism!!!

hello friends and family!!!

so i guess i will talk about the most exciting thing first! i ate pizza this week! haha just kidding, so as you can tell by the pictures, gabriel was baptized! it was the coolest baptism ive been to yet. there were so many people there supporting him and the spirit was so strong. and the coolest thing of all is that he chose me to baptize him! after the baptism he bore a super stong testimony about how we have changed his life and the true church of christ.  there were some special hymns that the branch sung and he was crying the whole time. it was so awesome :) 

on sunday he was confirmed and recieved the holy ghost. he bore his testimony again because it was testimony sunday. it was so cool and everybody loved it :) he promised to help more of gods children come to church and find the path that he has found. i think he will help us out alot in our work here.

sadly, junior disappeared a little. on wednesday, we had a super awesome lesson with him and some members that he loved. he marked a visit the next day and said he would go to the baptism and church again. when we went there the next day, he wasnt there. he also didnt go to church or the baptism :( we will pass by his house tonight to see if we can find him home. i really hope so because he was progressing alot! 

we found another great guy named carlos on saturday. we will keep working alot with him and keep you posted on what happens. 

during my studies, i read mormon chapter 9 the other day. i don't remember reading this chapter before, but it is so good! every scripture was super cool and i challenge everyone to read it this week, its so perfect with the restoration. it explains really clearly that God needs to continue the same way he was before. it explains the necessity of a prophet and god talking with everyone. 

and with the packages, i got the insoles and the deodorant. i'm looking for cool stuff here to send home or to keep with me until i go home to give to y'all. ive been slacking off a little bit with giving cool things as presents. 

congrats on the training mom! i bet you are in better shape than i am. i can walk forever, but run, not so much. it was great hearing about the little things that are going on. my bet for mels baby is this saturday! lets see if im right :) i'm interested in what the prize is!

it has been great working with the new missionary. he has such a strong testimony and the people can tell when he teaches. at times i think it would be nice to be a convert because i feel like my testimony would be stronger. growing up in the church we have testimonies, but we dont really realize it. we never got to experience the difference in our lives. converts get to feel that black and white. for me i know i have a testimony, but it was obtained over such a long period of time that i feel just normal somtimes. however, i am so grateful to have been born in the church, i dont think i would have ever converted if someone came to my house as a missionary. it is SO important for parents to raise their kids right in the church, and thats what you and mom did!

i love you all, you are the best!

-Elder Lambert