Ferraria Week 6

This week was long, and short at the same time. We had transfers, and Elder R Santos got transferred. I am here with Elder Armenta, who has one more transfer than me, so this will be exciting.  My companion is from Mexico. I asked him if he speaks any English, and he said yes. I don´t know how much that means. I can communicate pretty well in Portuguese most of the time.

Questions:

Santa Angela

-We have 3 main areas here: Santa Angela, Ferraria, and Campo Comprido. We live in Ferraria which has a second part, São José. Campo Comprido goes right up next to the sisters´ area, and has the chapel. We work there on Sundays, and Tuesdays. Santa Angela has about two members who are both recent converts. We work there on Wednesdays. Ferraria is bigger, and very hilly like Santa Angela. Compo Comprido is not hilly. We live in Ferraria, and it is about an hour of walking in between the areas.

  -Easter here is celebrated with chocolate, as in the pictures I sent. They do have Easter eggs as well, but they are all chocolate, and they don´t paint eggs. They do have a special Easter meal, with family, but I don´t know if they have a specific meal for this. Easter is on Sunday, but also Friday, and Saturday so almost everyone has work, and/or school off on these days.

-The weather here is cloudy, and sometimes rainy. It is very hard to tell what the day will be like. It changes every day.

This week was my last week with Elder R Santos. He was pretty sure that he would be transferred, and so he trained me as if he would be transferred. We had a division on Wednesday, and this helped me realize that when I am with Elder R Santos, I rely on, and follow him, and don´t take the lead a lot, but when I was with Elder A (the Elder I had divisions with) I took the lead more because I knew the area better than he did. With Elder R Santos, he knew the area better than me, so I followed his lead. I think this is why I will have another trainer, because the Lord knows this and wants me to progress as much as I can.

During the week Elder R Santos worked on making me do the 'how to begin teaching' so that I am better at it, and so I can do it without looking to him for help. It has been hard, and I am still not an expert at this. I don´t even think I am an amateur. The combination of not being confident in Portuguese, and not having a personality that makes talking with people easy, makes beginning teaching hard for me. I think that I am ``fluent`` in Portuguese, meaning that I can have conversations where I don´t have problems. I still have a lot of conversations where I have problems understanding people, or communicating exactly what I want, so maybe not. Whenever people ask me how is my Portuguese, I always say ```melhor, sempre melhor`` which translates to better, always better.

We had Easter, and Elder R Santos said that holidays are not good for knocking doors. I think that they are because people are in their homes, and so we can talk with them, and make an appointment to visit another day. This week on Saturday we went to an appointment, and the family was busy so we knocked the door next to them, and met a man named M. We talked, with him, and taught the Restoration, and he was focused on what we said. During the lesson I could feel the spirit very strongly, especially during the first vision. I think that he will be a good investigator, and I think that he will accept, and fulfill commitments.

Easter was good, and I liked being able to remember the Savior more. The church put out some videos for Easter. I don´t know all of them, or if there are more than one, but the one I know is ``He Lives`` if you all haven´t watched it yet, watch it here. It is a very special video, and helps us remember the Savior. I have been listening to the conference talks on the ipod you sent with me, and one talked about the Savior´s atonement. It talked about how if Christ had sinned even one time, or if he had not atoned for all our sins, then everyone no matter how good they are would be doomed to eternal torment, and they would be forever in Satan´s power, BUT because he atoned, and because he was perfect he saved everyone from this fate, and he made it so that even the worst person can have a state of glory. He made it so that we can return to our father in heaven, and that we can live again. I am very, very grateful for his sacrifice, and his love, and I want others to be able to realize the love that he has, and had for us. I hope you all had good Easters as well.

-- Elder Pettingill

Here are some pics. One is our my division with Elder A this week, and others are of the Easter package given to us from the ward we are in. Also the lego sets from my birthday package.