Week 34

hello my dearst friends and family!

this week was quite an adventure that i am excited to report about. one of the exciting things was that we recieved letters! letters are normally exciting, but when you can only recieve them once every 6 weeks, it gets pretty crazy... i recieved lots of letters from my dearest family :) i also got a letter from elder paxman and discovered that he is a zone leader!!! also, one letter from elder howell! its so fun writing to my buddies in portuguese and finding out how they are doing. one letter that i recieved was both sad and exciting. it was sad because it was the first letter my SISTER sent to me, but exciting because i got to hear from her finally! thanks nat... i had no time to write letters in return, but hopefully i can get a few in the mail next week. being the district leader is going well, but it is a big responsibility. i dont have a ton more things to do, but i just have to make sure to always be a good example and work really hard (which is good). its fun working closer with the zone leaders and the giant meeting that i got to go to during the week. thanks for the updates about BYU and all the adventures! it sounds like you guys are keeping busy and working hard. 

i was able to take lots of pictures, here are the first two.

the chaple in Teresina

a photo with some of the people i traveled with!

me and elder barros!!

 everyone eating lunch at the leadership meeting

monday-this night we passed by the peoples houses who didnt go to church

tuesday-we had another district meeting and got to meet elder ribeiro (new to the district). this week i gave a training and practice on moroni´s promise and how to present it. after the reunion, i went to the giant bus stop to meet up with the zone leaders to travel to Teresina! we left at about 2:30 and arrived at 8:30. i talked to elder Deaver on the bus (from california) and it was so much fun. he is a giant in my district that i get along with really well. after we arrived, we took a ton of busses and arrived at a mission house in the zone Teresina Horto. there was a ton of people there, so some slept on the ground, and nobody had a fan :( i slept from 3-5...

me, elder murray, and elder deaver

our district!

 

wednesday-we woke up at 5 to start the small journey to the chapel. i love traveling on the public busses becasue it is always such an adventure! i was seriously squished between a lady and a young woman this time which was kind of awkward... it was really funny though because elder deaver was bent in half the whole ride. we arrived at the church at about 7:30 to eat a small breakfast and get started! it was so fun seeing all the people who i already knew, and i met alot of new friends! its really fun talking to all the missionaries who have lots of time in the mission. all the trainings were really good and based on the area book and meetings. i love recieving trainings and participating in the leadership of the mission. afterwards, we recieved a ton of supplies to haul arround and bring back to our house. we crammed 6 people in a taxi with a ton of boxes and letters and such, it was really fun. we left to come home at about 9:45 at night. i was super excited to read my letters on the bus, but my light didnt work :(

a big chunk of the leadership

our house!

thursday- we got back to sobral at 3:30 and the house at about 4:30 in the morning. i slept at the zone leaders house because it was closer. we had another night of just 2 hours of sleep because we woke up at 6:30 to work! the other elders in my house came to get me and we had to carry all the suppplies to our house. carrying the huge boxes of books of mormon is very unpleasant. we tried to teach emanuel at night, but he was sleeping, BUT irmã alzirã called us and wanted to give us dinner :)

friday-today was difficult because i woke up with diarreah and a cold :( but hey, this is normal here. we went to emanuel´s house and he said that he decided again to be baptized with the JW´s, but we talked again and he is open to recieve us again! i also started a book of miracles! everyday in the misison i will record a miracle in a separate book. i looked through my journal and picked out miralces of all the days that have passed. 

saturday- all of our plans fell through sadly, and emanuel wasnt in the house... we also journeyed far away to visit a less active YW, but she was busy. but, we had a great lesson with a less active youth named bruno and he said he would go to church again this sunday, and he did!

sunday- we didnt have many people go to church, but bruno went! i love my ward so much :) one sister named irmã lidiane found out my birthday was arriving and gave me a soccer jersey and a chocolate bar! at night we had a really good meeting with the ward missionaries and i hope everything will go as planned.

also! i recieved two packages from my mom for my birthday, but sadly i couldnt wait :) i already opened them and was very pleased with all the food! i am saving the stuff that was wrapped separately and will open those on my birthday. thanks mom!

i love you all and keep you in my thoughts and prayers! thanks for the support and prayers! 

-Elder Lambert