12/29/14

week 50 

Well of course this was an amazing week!! I got to talk to my family christmas day and I absolutely loved that! I was so happy when I saw them! We were able to talk for a bit and share some good laughs. It was super weird to think that it was snowing there and its super hot here. haha But I am so grateful for my family and everything they do for me. I am so thankful that we are an Eternal Family! :)

So we are teaching Josiane still. She wants to be baptized and she has already gone to church one time, but her dad has a heart problem and she literally needs to stay at his side 24/7. So we understand why she cant go to church, but she is always reading the Book of Mormon and every thing we ask her to read. She´ll be baptized for sure, the question is When? haha but she is awesome. 

We made a contact last week and returned this week with a lady. We taught about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. She said ´´I already know this is true!´´ Her mom is 90 and she also needs to stay by her side all the time, but we are going to try to help her go to church this Sunday. 

Christmas Eve we went to a members house for a special dinner. It was super good and i loved it! the Hostess gave all 4 of us missionaries a tie for christmas. And they were super good looking ties!! 

Christmas day, we went to Eltons house to do service and help him with his lawn. Then we went home and showered then we got to skype!! Yay!! I cant believe I have to wait another 5 months to wait to talk to yall. but we´ll see if ill servive! haha 

I love yall and am so grateful for yall!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella  

12/15/14

Week 49

Hello friends and family! This week has been pretty good! and its one more week closer to Christmas! I dont really feel like its christmas time because its super hot here. like super hot. Monday and Tuesday this week we were in Cuiabá for zone meeting. Then we got back and went to work. 

This week our goal was to talk to everybody about ´´He is the Gift´´. We made lots and lots of contacts. And we ended up getting more than 25 addresses that people said we could teach them more in their houses. Christmas time really is awesome and a wonderful opportunity we have to feel the spirit of christmas in our lifes. And the opportunity to help other people that are in need.

For right now, we have a baptismal date set for December 27th with a young woman named Josiane. She is 17 and she has been reading the Book of Mormon everytime we leave a chapter for her to read. She is currently dating Recent Convert and the RC invited her to know about his faith. She went to church yesterday for the first time and liked it alot! She has already gotten an answer that the Book of Mormon and THe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true! She is truly awesome! 

Yesterday we watched the Christmas Devotional and Elder Christoffersons talk touched my heart. He talked about a family that the parents couldnt get there kids anything for christmas, but on christmas day the kids found a dime and swore it was from santa. The kid went to the grocery store but it was closed. the kid went to the owners house and the owner opened the store for him and gave him lots of candy for him and his little brothers and sisters. We all can do a little bit more to help those in need during this time of year.

I love yall and ill talk to yall next week!!

Feliz Natal,

Elder Marstella 

12/10/14

Week 48

Well Monday i wasnt able to get on because we were in Cuiaba. But im here in Cáceres again. I ended up getting here at 3 am... so last Tuesday i just pretty much slept and unpacked. Tuesday night we went to a member´s house right behind our house. When the wife saw me she started to scream with excitement because I came back. hahah that was cool! 

So my new companions name is Elde Johansson. It looks like an american name, but he is brazilian and he is new to the mission. This is his 7th week in the mission, so im finishing his training. 

This last week, I wanted to meet everyone he and his ex companion have been teaching. There is one family that consists of the mom (Less Active), the dad (non-member), and their son (Recent convert). The dad wants to get  baptized, they are just waiting to get married before he can be baptized. And the son wants to marry a girl who also wants to get married! This family is really cool and they love the Lord! 

Also the wife and Husband from above (the one that screamed when she saw me) brought to non member young women to church. And they really liked it! We have shared the book of mormon with them and talked about baptism with one of them! It really is neat how much the members help in our work! 

So the church worldwide started a program for christmas that is called ´´he is the gift´´ which talks about the true meaning of Christmas. Its a video on youtube and we will start using that to make contacts and meet people! 

So im good, just tired all the time! Monday was my official 11 month anniversary on the mission!! Yay!! Time really does fly! 

Ill send pictures of my couple days in cuiabá next week! I love yall! I love you mom!!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

PS Happy birthday to Elder Johansson! 

12/1/14

Week 47

Sooo we got our transfer calls last night. and im going to Cáceres, again! I served there for 9 weeks before i came to Lucas, so I still know alot of the members there! Im excited to go back, but im sad to leave Lucas! Lucas was awesome and it was an honor to serve here. The members here are absolutely awesome and I love them! 

I leave 3:30 and take a bus to Cuiaba, then at midnight, i take a bus to caceres. So itll be a long bus ride for sure haha.

Anyways, this week we taught a family that the sisters met on the street. This family wanted the sisters to visit them, but its in our area, so we did a compromise, 2 sisters and us 2 elders went to go teach them together. This family consists of a wife, husband, a daughter, and a nephew. They are super accepting and wanted to go to church. We taught about the restoration and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Both of those lessons the sisters came to help out. I wont be here to find out what happens with them, but i hope they all get baptized!

And this week we asked the sisters to visit katia with us. They did and we all talked with Katia about making the covenant of being baptized. She is still a little unsure of it, but i hope she gets baptized soon! Im sad i wont be here for when that happens! 

Ohh we went to a less actives house this week and we made a little band. haha the member plays bass, Elder Payne played guitar, and i sang. haha it was actually pretty cool and i wish i would of filmed it, but we didnt. haha 

I dont have much time this week because of transfers, but I love yall and I love you mom! I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving week!!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

11/24/14

Week 46

Hello friends and family! This week was another slower week, but we visited alot of Less Actives and Recent Converts.

One of our Recent Converts name is Anderson. He is 17 and he was baptized in Setember. He is really cool! These past Sundays his family went fishing and he went with them. We focused on him this week to go to church yesterday, and he went!! And he even picked us up in his brothers car! It was awesome! He really is an amazing guy and we are trying to help him have a desire to serve a mission in a year! We love him! I gave him a tie and my last comp gave him a white shirt so now he looks the priests here! Ahh he is awesome!!  haha

On Thursday, we had a BBQ with another Less Active. His name is Rafael and he is super sweet. He is 28 and has been a member all his life. He now works on Sundays, so we are just trying to help him keep the gospel as the number thing in his life. We try to visit him a couple times a week just to talk and ask if he needs help with anything.

Im running out of time again, but I love yall and in one month ill be able to skype home!! Im sooooo excited!!!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella

Next Monday is Transfers so depending on what happens, im not sure when ill get on!

11/18/14

Week 45

Oí minha familia e meu amigos!! This week was a pretty good week! 

We focused on Katia again this week! She accepted to be baptized this Sunday. She is truly amazing and we love her and her family! We taught alot of Less Actives again this week. 

On Friday, we went to Novo Mutum again to do a Family Home Evening. We went to the members house there, and they invited family friends to come over and we ate BBQ and then shared a message. We talked about the Apostasy. We taught it really clear so the kids could understand too! It was really spiritual. 

On Saturday, we came back and the Sisters had a baptism! A 17 year old young woman got baptized! She is awesome! Then that night we had a missionary activity at the church that was pretty fun! 

On Sunday, we did exchanges with the young men in our branch. The Branch President said that this branch could have 7 missionaries in the field next year so we need to help them as much as possible. The young men here are awesome!! Then last night we had another Family Home Evening with our branch. 

That was the main events this week. I love yall and Congratulations to gma!!! Happy Birthday grandma!! I love you!!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella 

11/11/14

Week 44

Hello family and friends!! This week was a pretty good one! And again, I love Elder Payne. He is super funny and we get along pretty well. And he speaks Portuguese like a native Brazilian, so he is helping we a bunch. anddddd This week I officially hit my 10 month mark on the mission!! I cant beleive Ive been out for that long already... Time is just moving super fast!! And I forgot to say, congratulations to my older sister! She found out that she will be having a baby girl!!! Yay!!! 

This week we focused on Less Actives. We taught some really good lessons but nothing too too exciting. I think the best part of week was on Friday. President came Friday to do interviews with us. I love President and Sister Reber. They are awesome. I got to talk with President, then we had English class. We planned to teach the song Over the Rainbow in english, but we had technical dificulties haha. So we ended up teaching a simple primary song which was awesome haha. Then after that, an investigator picked us up and we went to her house and ate cake with her and her husband for her birthday!! It was super cool! and super good! hahah 

We visited Katia almost everyday this week to help her towards baptism. She ended up traveling yesterday so she couldnt make it to church. But on Friday night, we went to her house to eat cake with her, because saturday was her birthday. Before we starting eating, she started saying thank you to us and how she is going to tell all her friends that she was eating cake with 2 americans. haha and we just started laughing. hahah Ohh and we were talking to her and she called herself a Mormon! haha i love that, especially because she hasnt been baptized yet. haha but she will for sure!! 

Thats all the time i have right now, but i love yall sooo so very much! 

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella 

11/3/14

Week 43

Hello friends and family!! This was another pretty good week!! Ill just start with that I love Elder Payne. He is super funny. He is my first american companion so after 9 long long months I can fully express my mind in English. haha But he helps me a ton, especially with my Portuguese accent. He speaks pretty much like a native brazilian. 

So this week we had a couple days where we didnt teach that much because 1) On wednesday we got new beds and the store said they would drop it off at our house at 2 PM, but they didnt show up until7:30PM. We were so bummed. then 2) We helped a family move on friday then we had our English Class after the move. But its alright, as long as we are helping people, im happy! :)

So I weighed myself this week, and im about 84 kg, which is 185 lbs. I think i started my mission with 215 pounds, maybe more. So ive lost at least 40 pounds already! And my new comp likes to work out, so Im starting to work out with him!! 

We had a Zone Meeting this week and our Zone Leader started with a simple question, he wrote on the board ´´Who am I?´´ He gave us a couple seconds to think about the question. The first thing that came to my mind was that I am a child of God. And he is my loving Heavenly Father and that he knows me personally. Then the 2nd question was this, ´´Why am I here?´´ And along that same line, I know every person is a child of God. And I´m here on a mission to help His children, my brothers and sisters, return to him after this life. And to feel the greatest amount of joy possible that only this gosple can give. I know I am a child of God and that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. I am here to help families be eternal. I get so much joy from knowing that my family is forever. And I want every family to be together forever! 

I love my family so much and am so thankful for all of there examples to me! I love yall so much!! 

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella 

10/27/14

Week 42 

This week was pretty good!! Elder Payne arrived Monday and he was sick. So we took Tuesday off so he could rest. Then I showed him around the area this week, so this week was kinda slow, but itll pick up. Elder Payne is super cool. He is from Spanish Fork, UT and is already going home in February. I like him alot! He is going to UVU after his mission so he´ll have a chance to see Chase and Taryn. Elder Payne and I get along really well, and he is my first american companion. Haha After 10 months of only speaking Portuguese, its funny to here us try to speak in english. It sounds soooo bad at times. haha but I love him already! 

We have a baptismal date for this Sunday with that woman called Katia. She is really cool and has a really strong testimony. Expect pictures next week! 

Its starting to rain here, and i mean alot. It rained almost all day yesterday so it was hard to do any work.  

Can yall believe that i almost have a year on the mission? Looking back, that time went super fast. I cant believe it. I love you all and I love you mom!! 

Oh ill send a picture of my district next week. We have 3 americans, 2 brazilians, and 1 from Portugual. Its time to go, but i love yall!!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

hey i put photos on my google drive if yall can put those on. 

10/20/14

Week 41

This week went by really fast! I had a meeting in Cuiaba this week, so i traveled Thursday to get there, Friday we had a Lidership meeting, and Saturday I traveled back to Lucas. At this meeting, we had all the District Leaders and Zone Leaders in the north of the mission. The meeting really was inspiring. I loved it! President Reber talked about the General Conference talk, Which way do you face? (click to read/watch the original talk!) He talked about how we are called to represent President Monson to the people. He talked about how alot of times missionaries want to be the coolest, or funniest missionary. And it's fine to be cool and funny, but when it comes to breaking rules to do that, its a different story. President pretty much said that he wants us to be the examples in the mission and to help everyone else in the mission. I received alot of revelation for me and for my district.

Today is tranfers. My companion Elder Chavez already left and is on his way to Ronodopolis. And my new companion Elder Payne (my first american companion!) is on his way from Cuiaba. I am excited for this transfer!

Thats all for this week! I love you all! I love you mom!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella 

10/13/14

Week 40

Can yall beleive it has already been 40 weeks since ive started my mission?? That sounds absolutely insane! Time has been going by so fast. haha but I am loving the mission. It is truly the best thing I could be doing right now with my life. 

So this week was pretty good!!Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we went to Novo Mutum, a small city 1 hour south of Lucas do Rio Verde. The church still hasnt been able to start there because only one family lives there. But we arrived thereTuesday night and the member picked us up and brought us to his house. He has a wife, 2 boys (3 and 12) and 2 girls (11 and 5). I loved their family and they were so nice to us! We talked with them Tuesday night. President Reber sent me on this trip to find out more information about the city to perhaps start a group there in the near future. Ill send a picture next week. This trip was the most exciting part of my week. We slept there and we read the Book of Mormon there together the next morning before we left. It was truly an awesome experience!

Then when we got back to Lucas, we continued our hard work. This week was found alot of new people. One was Aldir and Noely. One night we taught Noely outside her house and then returned the next day and taught her and her husband. They are an older couple, but are awesome. While we were walking out after the 2nd lesson, one of their friends came in and was crying really hard. Noely explained that she has depression and was really sad. We said a prayer with her before we left. We ended up having a lot of lessons are really planned the next couple days, so we couldnt visit them for 2 days. When we returned she said her husband really liked us and was really sad when we didnt visit them during those 2 days. And she said when we said the prayer with her friend, her friend immideatly felt better and didnt have depression. I know the power of prayer is true! And she said her friend read the pamphlet of the Restauration and felt really really good! I love them! They are elects!

I dont have much time again but i love you all and I know the Lord is with me helping these brasilians now the truth! I love yall. I love you mom!!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella 

10/6/14

Week 39

Hello friends and family! This week was pretty good, but slow too because of Conference. So where I´m serving, we dont have a satillite at the church, they didnt show Saturday conference at the church. We watched the Saturday Afternoonsession at a members house. But I still havent seen Sunday Morning or the Priesthood session... But ill be watching them this upcoming weeks when i download them! And yes i watched them in Portuguese again, this time i understood alot more, but it still was hard to understand at times.

Monday we had our Zone Leaders and Sister Trainers come for P-day and to do exchanges Tuesday.  We had alot of fun together on Pday, but since my camera broke last week....  I didnt get to take pictures haha 

This week when we taught people, we focused on a living prophet and the importance of a living prophet. I know the President Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today! He is called to help everyone return back to God and so that we can live with our families for eternity!

We have been teaching a family for 4 weeks now and they accepted baptism for Sunday after church! We love them! We teach a mom, a daughter (18), and a son (19). They are awesome and the Lord has prepared them for sure. I love this church and I love general conference!  

I love you guys and I love the Lord.

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella 

9/29/14

Week 39

Hello friends and family! Here in Lucas it has started raining almost everyday... and its not just a little shower, it rains hard here. haha Luckly, we have only been caught in the streets once when it just starts poring, but the members here say it´ll start raining all day, everyday. So thatll be fun. hahah 

This week has been pretty good! We got alot of help from the members this week. 3 nights of the week, members were helping us make our investigators into members! We baptized a kid name Anderson a couple weeks ago. He is 17 and already loves being a member. Sunday we suprised him with a white shirt and tie. Before, he went in jeans and a tshirt, and felt a little off because everyone else whas in a white shirt and tie. So we gave him a white shirt and tie as a present and now he looks like all the other young men! It´s awesome! 

We met a lot of new people this week. One miracle was this: We made a contact with a woman a couple days ago, and Saturday we went to here house. But she wasnt there, so we decided to go door to door on this street. Literally no one was at home. It was around 3 pm so pretty much everyone was working. My comp said, ´´No one´s here. Lets go to another street.´´ But I felt the Spirit tell me to go just a little bit more. We walked for a little bit longer and found Sandra! She said she was suppose to be at work but something happened so she didnt go. Thats one miracle. 2nd miracle, the Lord has definitly prepared her. She use to go to a church, but stopped 4 years ago. She knew she needed God in her life again. We taught her the Restoration and she liked it alot. She couldnt make church yesterday, but she said she´ll go this Sunday. 3rd Miracle: her kids dont like to party and do things like that. Here in brasil that is super hard to do, especially if youre not a member. We have high hopes for her and her family.

We are also teaching another family. Katia (mom), Michael (son 19), and Julie (daughter 18). They went to church last week, but they were traveling yesterday. Yesterday night we visited them with 2 young men. Katia said she prayed and she feels like she has recieved an answer that our church is true! We asked them to ask God if they should be baptized Sunday after General Conference. My area, Lucas do Rio Verde is super blessed. The members here are super excited for missionary work and are willing to help a ton. This was my week! I love it here. I love my mom.

I cant believe next week is my 40th week on the mission. Time is literally flying!  I love yall. and again, I love my mom!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella 

9/22/14

week 38

This week was really good! We had a baptism Saturday night, so that was awesome! His name is Anderson. He is 17 and has really changed since the first time we met him. He lives with his cousin Junior, that still needs a little bit more time before he can be baptized. I sent some pictures of us and Anderson at his house before his baptism.

This week was really good! We had Zone Meeting in Sinop Friday with the missionaries in our zone. It was awesome. I served there for my first 4 months of my mission. It was cool to see some of the people I baptized and worked with while I was there!

 Then on Sunday, we had Branch Conference. And we had 137 people at church Sunday. And President and Sister Reber and 2 couple missionaries came. President Reber talked about trusting our leaders and following their counsil.

I dont have much time again, Im sorry! I love you all and I love you mom!!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella 23

9/15/14

week 37

This week was pretty good!! We recieved 2 new Sisters on Tuesday.They are both Brasilian and they both are super cool. This week, we worked super hard. We have 5 people with a date for baptism. 2 young men, and a family of a mom, 19 year old son, and 18 year old daughter. We tried to visit the young men everyday. They agreed to be baptized on Saturday, so expect photos next email!! 

Saturday, we held a FHE for our investigators and one came. But we held the FHE at a family´s house and it was super good. Anderson, one young man came. He is 17. Then he went to church the next day and met some really cool young men and women. He and his cousin agreed to be baptized this weekend!! 

I dont have much time today, sorry! but i finally got my birthday box!! After a month of waiting, the box finally made it to my city from cuiaba! haha anyways, i love yall!! And i heard BYU is 3-0! keep it up!!

Love you mom!

Elder Marstella  

9/8/14

Week 35

Hello friends and family!! This week was a really good week! Tuesday we had a mission tour with President Campos. He was really good and uplifting! We talked alot about teaching simple and letting the Spirit touch the hearts of our investigators. President Campos was really excited to talk to us. It got all of us missionaries even more motivated to work! Lucas to Cuiaba is about 6 hours. On the way back from cuiaba, i met a guy on the bus who lived in canada for 10 years, so we talked in english for a bit! Then I taught him about the restoration and Book of Mormon! He started crying because he heart was full of love. I know for a fact the Spirit was testifying to him that the things I taught were true. He lives in Sinop so the missionaries there will visit him for sure!

Then we came back to Lucas and went to work again! We focused on Valdir this week and he got baptized Saturday! The sisters here had an investigator be baptized on Saturday too, so it was awesome. Valdir is truly awesome! 

Yesterday, we did exchanges, and I worked with a young man here. He is 13 and reminded me of Dillon. He gave a short message at one lesson and it was super good. He already is ready to serve a mission! 

I dont have much time todya, but i love you all and i am so happy to be here in Brasil!

P.S. LETS GO BYU FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella 

9/4/14

Week 34

Mom!! First off, I´m sorry that I just stopped emailing you on Monday. The internet here stopped and we had to leave to catch a bus to Cuiaba. So today we are just emailing really quick to our families. Last week was a super good week!

Last Monday night, we taught a family and read the Book of Mormon together. We had already taught them 2 times before, so they knew about Joseph Smith. During this lesson we read Alma 32 together. When we finished, the wife was almost crying because the spirit was so strong. It was seriously the best feeling ever. Then 2 days later they said they didnt want our visits anymore. The wife said she knew our messages are true, but they dont want to change religions right now... I seriously almost started crying! It was super sad. THey were the first family that i could actually talk to and listen to their problems and help them. I seriously loved them! It´s said to see them feel the spirit super strong and then not want to feel those feelings again. But the lesson after that on that night, we set a date with a guy to be baptized this Saturday. And he will be baptized this Saturday! His name is Valdir. He is super cool. He is 24 and did some pretty dumb stuff when he was younger, but he has changed alot and said God gave him this opportunity to change. He really is super awesome.

 Sunday, a recent convert brought his neighbor with him to church. And after church he said he wanted to come to this church every Sunday and be baptized because he feels a different feeling here in our church. His name is Dallas! Haha I know thats a sign from God that he is an elect! haha

At church, we asked some of the young men if they could help us and do exchanges to teach more people with members. I expected only 2 to come, but 6 came! haha it was awesome! The young men here love the elders and are so willing to help us! I love it.

Ohhh so my new city is called Lucas do Rio Verde. It is a super modernized city. Its super nice. And the ward here is about 110 active members, which is a ton for this part of Brasil! I love it here! And im training a Peruan! Haha Life here is good! All write about Cuiaba (monday and tuesday) on next week´s letter! I love you all!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

8/25/14

Week 33

Ok, so this week was the busiest week of the mission yet. We had an american recieve his visa, so president changed some things around to fit him in. My comp recieved a phone call Tuesday and the LZ´s said that I would go to Lucas. And i am the District Leader here now. And im training a peruan! I was a little nervous, but this week was pretty good! I traveled all day Wednesday to get here. I got things unpacked wednesday night and thursday morning. We went to work right away.. Lucas is so beautiful! It´s cool to see the difference in cities here in Brasil.

Anyways, my new companion´s name is Elder Chavez, from Peru. He has been here for 3 weeks so i am his ´dad´ on the mission. haha He is my first ´filho´! We dont talk alot, but we work really hard! Yesterday, we worked and set 3 baptisms for  Setember 6th! Here is the story of 2 young men we are teaching.

Saturday we went to an investigators house. His name is Junior. He is 18 and when we started teaching him he didnt seem very interested. After the lesson we invited him to church on Sunday. He said he would go with his cousin, Anderson who is 17. We had a member pick us up and we drove by their house, and they were ready! during church they had some good questions and they really felt the spirit. Later that yesterday night we walked by their house. We talked with them for abit, then started a lesson. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and focused on baptism. I tried to help them realize why they felt so much peace and happiness at church. After the lesson, i was focusing on Anderson and asked if he would prepare to be baptized on setember 6th, and Junior, who was sitting next to him said ´´I will.´´ The Spirit was strong! And they both are preparing to be baptized on Setember 6th. They are awesome!!

So in this district we had 4 sisters and my comp and me. 2 Sisters left this week. One for BYU, and the other was transfered out because of an emergency transfer. So now there is only 4 of us. But I love it here in Lucas and all the members here are excited!

I love you mom!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

PS while i was on the bus going to Lucas, a truck driver drove off a bridge and i tried to take a picture of it. it wasnt a good picture but it was all i got haha.

8/18/14

week 32 

Well to start off, Happy Birthday to my dad and myself! haha I´m 20... can yall believe that?? thats hard to believe!! 

Anyways, this week was pretty good! We focused on one neighborhood this week and we found 2 really cool families, neighbors! haha How we found them is actually kinda funny. So we were walking down the street one day and 3 probably 14 year old girls started saying pretty much pick up lines to us while we were walking. One of our lessons dropped and we decided to go back and pretend we were lost and make a contact! So we did that and we came back another day and taught their families! haha it was awesome. We taught one day about the Restoration and the spirit was really strong. Then we came back another day and taught them about the importance of church! 

 Ohh and this week i started getting some wierd thing on my pinky toe and started hurting. I showed a member here and he got needle and after about 20 minutes messing with it, it came off!! haha 

So my mom sent a birthday box and it arrived in Cuiaba about 10 days ago, but since we are in a really isolated area, not many missionaries travel here. So my birthday box is still in Cuiaba. But the Zone leaders will bring it this week!

friday night the branch had a baptism for the branch president´s daughter. And the  BP asked me to lead the baptism. I was like ive never done this before, but ill try! haha it went pretty well i think.

And that was my week!!

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! Yall are the best! We are going to a members house tonight to celebrate my birthday! Ill send pics next week! Love yall!

Com Amor,
Elder Marstella

8/11/14

week 31

This week was pretty good! Well last Monday after I emailed, the 4 elders and I went to a small beach by a river here and threw the frisbee around! It was pretty awesome! I took pictures but this computer wont let me upload photos right now. 

This week we had Zone Meeting in Cuiaba! Traveling there is always fun. The zone meeting itself was pretty good! We have a couple new people in our zone so that was cool to meet them. One activity we did to become better friends was get into groups and answer these questions:

1) When did you get a testimony of the Gospel?

2) Why are you on a mission?

3) What was the funniest moment of your mission?

This week we focused on finding new people to teach. We met alot of really cool people. One was a family of a grandma, a mom, a daughter, a son, and granddaughter. We taught about the restoration and the spirit was really strong! And that family reminded me of my family before i left of my mission! 

Friday we had Cowboy party at the church. A ton of people came and it was really fun! Thats all for this week!

I love yall and happy birthday to Aly, Miley, and my dad this week!!

Com Amor, 
Elder Marstella

PS Congratulations to my sister Aly for being pregnant!!!

8/4/14

week 30

This week was pretty good! My new companions name is Elder W. Rocha from Fortaleza, Brasil. He arrivedmonday night. and the other 2 american elders arrived 3 am and 10 am Tuesday so to say the least, earlier this week I was pretty tired. haha The other americans are Elder Spencer and Elder Bowers.

Me and my comp recieved a reference  from a Cuiaba. Her name is Ellen and she is 17. She is super cool and we taught her the 1st lesson and she accepted a baptismal date! Yay! She looked like she was about to cry because she was feeling the spirit really strongly! She wasnt able to go to church this week. Ohh she went to church once in Cuiaba with her friend and she felt really really good there so she decided to start talking to us! 

This week W. Rocha wanted to focus on the members and meeting them. So this week I took him to the members houses and he met alot of members. This week was really good! 

Yesterday we had a churrasco at the members house behind ours with all 4 missionaries. Elder Bowers´ birthday was on Friday so we celebrated that! I took some pictures of that!

This week we have our Zone Conference in Cuiaba! Ill be sure to take alot of pictures! I love yall and next week ill have more to write!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella 

PS congrats to Elder Thorsen making it home!! 

7/28/14

Week 29

I dont have much time to write because today is transfers and my comp is leaving. This week was super cold. It was 50 degrees here and everyone was freezing!! me included. haha and It was cloudy and rainy this whole week too. This week we helped at the members school with her class again. I love helping teach english. They kids are so funny!!

This week the Branch President, a member, and us 2 elders went deep into the forrest to cut some branches and bamboo sticks for an activity we are having next week. It was super cool and i felt like a indian brasilian haha. Then we rode on the back trialer until we got to church. 

So its time to go already, but my area included 2 sisters and 2 elders. 2 hispanics, 1 american-me, and my brasilian comp. Now we will have 4 elders and 0 sisters. 3 americans and 1 brasilian (my comp). haha so ill be getting my english back. haha ive been forgetting it little by little these last couple months. haha i love yall and ill be sure to write more next week!!

Com Amor,

Elder Marstella

ANd congratulations to my cousin Alicia for getting married this week!! I love you!!