16 December 2013   A Change in Transfers

Well, there is a quite a bit of news to talk about in this email. First off, I am not in Intercap anymore. Yep, Monday morning I got a call from President Castro and he told me to pack my bags and be at the bus station at 2:00. I was called to be the Zone Leader in Restinga with Elder Horst, an American. It was all a big rush to get out of Intercap in time but I managed to make it out and into Restinga later in the day.

I can't talk about why there were changes at the last minute but now I am a ZL which is pretty cool. I already have a week under my belt as a ZL and it has been very rewarding. We had a training meeting with our zone and we will do some divisions this week. Working with another ZL is awesome because we both have some skills in the missionary work so it is like two man tag team, when one finishes talking the other knows exactly what to say. Elder Horst and I managed to do a ton of work in little time. We marked baptisms every single day in the week and we always had some new to teach. I arrived in the area and they already have other baptisms ready so I think I finally landed in a gold mine on the mission. I have noticed that the only difference between a ZL and any other missionary is confidence. When I saw Elder Horst inviting people to be baptized in the middle of road I started doing the same and what do you know it works! We had a ton of investigators at church so my life is pretty good right now.

The area Restinga is literally what Americans would call the "Hood." We are working in the most dangerous area in Porto Alegre. Just about everyday you will hear a few gunshots ringing in the air, but hey I like a little bit of adrenaline every now and then. Oh don't worry about me because no one messes with us. The area is completely flat so hiking hills is no longer a problem. Now the problem is the sun. There is no shade in this city! I feel like a piece of meat on a frying pan the whole day. Our only focus is getting into houses and away from the sun.

The Ward here is even smaller than the branch in Butiá! There is about 40 active members but they are all very good, humble people. This area has been baptizing a lot recently so that is why the ZL's are here. I really want to make a difference in this area because the members really deserve it. I will work my butt off here the next few months and hopefully we can get this Ward back on it's feet.

Tomorrow we will have a Christmas conference with the President in Porto Alegre which will be really cool, at least it was cool last year. It lasts the whole day and we will have lunch and Christmas presentes. I am looking forward to it all.

I will need my Skype information to prepare for my call home the 25th. Can you all organize that? I think I will be calling about 7:00pm our time but who knows. Just be ready any hour.

I cannot think of anything else to write you all at the moment. There is so much to talk about but I have little time. In my next email I will have all my thoughts organized.

 

Lots of Love

Elder Miller