Heating up in Abolição

My district

Dear Family,

What another wonderful week here in Rio!! I received 3 packages this week! One was from Grandma Panonne, and there were 2 from the family, one with the gillette razors I asked for, and the other is the Christmas package. Unlike last year, I´m waiting until the 25th to open the presents. It will be this transfer, so I don´t have to worry about having to carry boxes all around Rio if I were to be transferred. If you want, I can open them during the hangout. It´s up to you all at home...

We had a huge mission zone conference this past week. It was the first time in my entire mission that EVERY SINGLE MISSIONARY in Rio was in the same place at the same time. 181 missionaries. That´s a lot of people.

We´ve received a few references from members here of people to teach, which has been a HUGE answer to our prayers. One of them is a teenager who recently went on a campout with the other young men. His name is Alexandre, and he´s a pretty cool guy. We taught him for the first time yesterday, and has already met all of the preists his age. The young men´s president recently came back from his mission ( about a year ago), and he´s been helping us out a ton, planning young mens activities where so that we can teach the missionary lessons. The YM president also served with Taylor Demars in Porto Alegre Sul. #mundopequeno

And Another investigator that has been progressing. And this one´s golden. We´re teaching a guy named Maurício, who reminds me EXACTLY of Dad. What I mean is that he´s a "Flirt to Convert" case that we´re working with. His girlfriend is a longtime member of the church, and while we ate lunch with them over a week ago, we asked him if he´d be interested in learning more about the church and he said he did. If Dad has any ideas, maybe moments that helped him feel the spirit, marking moments in his conversion, I´d love to hear about it. I don´t remember a ton about dad´s conversion, I think I only heard the story 2 ore 3 times like Natalie said.

So yeah. This week was splendid, and Elder Gonzales and I are happy with the results we are starting to have in our area. Abolição is known as a very tough area, with only 4 baptisms in the last 12 months. I´m excited to talk to everyone on Christmas! Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Braun

A picture of me shortly after I arrived in Rio and this week. I was surprised how tan I´ve gotten.