Halloween, brazilian style

Haha and so unfortunately Halloween doesn´t really exist here. Generally
the little kids have parties at school or something but that´s about it. I
spent the week answering questions about Halloween and how we celebrate it
and what we eat and why there are dress ups, and where it came from. Good
thing I had another americana with me!

Our week started out with a surprise zone meeting with Presidente. Sister
Lopez and I were supposed to get there early to have a meeting with Prez
before and so we left the house at 8am to get there at about 8:15am. But
the bus wasn´t having it. And so we waited and waited and waited for the
bus and got there just 3 minutes before 9am. So that was great. But the
meeting was great and we left all inspired and ready to work harder and be
better. The prez had everyone bear their testimony for 1 minute at the end
and the Spirit was super strong. The Presidente said that he is glad to see
our progress and used the example of me and the fact that I didn´t speak
anything when I got here and now I speak portuguese without an accent. It
was cool to see how much we have grown.

Speaking of progress, S. Lopez and I completed 13 months here on the mish.
Who would have thought I would ever get to this point?!

We had divisions in Estancia! They are in trio there and so I got to be
with both S. Saturnino and she is training S. Gonzalez. It was super fun to
be with them! S. Gonzalez is from Mexico and she is a hoot and you all know
that S. Saturnino is the best thing since sliced bread so it was a great
division! S. Lopez and I made french toast for the sisters and it was a hit!

Finally we arrived at Halloween. For the past few weeks we have been
working really hard with Lucas. He is a stellar young man and has a strong
testimony. He got baptized on Halloween! We made a cake for him and we
decorated it with spider rings that I got last Halloween in the MTC
(Shoutout to Aunt Emily and Aunt Melanie!) :)

Well it was a full week. We prayed to have an investigator in church
yesterday and out of the blue Vitoria was there. We are hoping she will get
baptized this Saturday! Prayers!

Love you all. The church is true. Read the scriptures. Pray lots.

S. Helm