Olá!

This week flew by super fast. The biggest news is that we had a baptism yesterday! We were hoping to have one, but it looked like it fell through. We were then talking with Roberta (who was baptized), our bishop and Thayná on Saturday. With the help of our bishop and Thayná, Roberta felt like she was ready to be baptized. We called our District Leader and he went and interviewed her. She passed and said she wanted to be baptized on Sunday. It was awesome. She has a lot of questions but said that she received all the answers in the Church. It strengthens my testimony of the gospel and especially of The Book of Mormon. I am grateful that we had the chance to teach her and help her take this huge step in her life.

The rest of the week was great. On Wednesday we had a mission Christmas party. It is the only day of the year that we can really do something like that. We played volleyball which was fun. I also just talked with a lot of the missionaries which was extremely fun as well just to laugh and joke around.

We are working with a lot of great people and I can't wait to keep working here. The ward is great and the area is fantastic. It is super hot here, but there has to be opposition in all things. I am super excited for Christmas. There is not a lot of celebration here. Just a lot of alcohol. Haha. But it will still be great with the members and in the office, we will probably celebrate.

It was my sister Shaylia's birthday this week and also her daughter Claire's as well. I am also so happy that my other niece was born. I am so grateful for them. I love my family so much and they bring me so much happiness especially with their support and love while I am here on the mission.

I am so grateful for the message of Christmas. I know that Christ was born. His birth, life, and death all bring hope and peace to all of us. We can all know that we have a Savior and Redeemer who gave everything so that we live with Him, our Father in Heaven and our families forever. I hope you all have an amazing Christmas!!!

Elder Johnson

Olá!

This week flew by fast. we didn't have nearly as many meetings this week. I went on an exchange to Novo Osasco, one of my old areas! That was a lot of fun, but a little weird. It kind of felt like I was on an exchange here in my current area and I went back there to stay there. It was fun to see Elder Aguiar as well. Exchanges are extremely tiring. With the traveling and then the full days it kind of wears you out, but I enjoy it a lot. I learned a lot this last week and am excited for this week.

Vinicius was baptized on Saturday! That was a great experience. His friend's dad baptized him and all of the youth were there so it was a very special experience for him. I hope that he continues strong and I bet he will be an amazing member of the church, always helping others and even could become a missionary in the future.

This last week we also had a meeting with President Thomas. It was a fantastic day. President Thomas spoke on obedience and hard work. He also showed a really cool video of the testimonies of people who were found by the missionaries. It showed me how important our work truly is and how even though it is hard sometimes, we should work our hardest so that we can help find those who are reaching out for help.

I don't have a whole lot more to say this week. We are going to have our mission Christmas party which I am excited for. Other than that, this week will be pretty normal also. I am so grateful for this Christmas season and for the opportunity I have to be a missionary. Thank you all for your love and support.

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson

Olá!

This week went by super fast. The first week of the transfer always does. Last week we had three meetings. On Tuesday we had a meeting with the new missionaries. It was good. The new group of missionaries was super excited and they look like they will do great things here on the mission. On Wednesday we had a meeting with all of the leader in the mission. So with all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders. It went really well, but it was an exhausting day. I was also not feeling super well. I am so grateful that the Lord helped me so that I could still make it through the meeting and give the training. I think that it was a great day for all the missionaries. The last meeting of the week was on Friday. We had a meeting with the new District Leaders. The new leaders are great. I love seeing the progress of all the missionaries, myself included. The meetings were a little tiring and being sick was no fun, but the week still went great.

This week we started teaching a young man who was being taught by the other missionaries in our ward, but they were transferred and so now we are teaching him. He is awesome. He was the one who started talking to the missionaries. They were walking on the street and the young man went up and talked to them and then the next Sunday went to church. That was two weeks ago. That was two weeks ago. His name is Vinicus. We went and taught him this week. We talked to him about baptism and marked a day for his baptism. He said that he would think about it. When he went to church on Sunday he came up to me super excited. He said that when we were talking to him he felt a strong desire to be baptized and especially after he kept feeling the desire to be baptized. He already has a strong testimony and will be baptized this Saturday! The only thing that was keeping him from being baptized was his mom, but this morning he called and said that his mom signed the baptismal form and said that he could be baptized! So many miracles have been happening. We are super excited for his baptism.

One other investigator has been progressing a lot. A woman named Roberta. I talked with her on the road a couple weeks ago. We went and taught her. She had so many questions and seemed super interested. She hadn't gone to church that week though and she started working so we couldn't go back to teach her. As we were walking to go and wake everyone up to go to church we saw her going to the church! It was a miracle. We went with her to the church. She had a lot of questions at church but seemed to enjoy it a lot. She will be baptized in a couple of weeks.

One crazy story from this week is that yesterday we came to the office at night on the bus. At the same time one of the soccer teams was playing. A lot of people were there because it was the last game of the season and each ticket was 1 real (about 30 cents). They finished the game right as we were going on the bus and the stadium is on the same street that we go on. There were people flooding into the bus. It is like if everyone after a BYU football game tried to take the bus. It was crazy. I was glad it was almost our stop and we got off. They didn't win, but if they did it would have been even crazier.

I am loving this Christmas season. I don't know if you have seen the Christmas initiative that the church does called Light the World, but if you have not seen the video, go to mormon.org and watch it. It is amazing. Every day also has a new video and all of them are fantastic as well. I am loving the opportunity we have to share the videos and even just talk with people on the street or on the bus about it. President Thomas said something interesting this week. He said that we ARE the light of the world, whether it be a good light, or a bad light, so no matter what we are doing, we are showing it to the entire world. We need to be a good light to everyone, guiding them to Christ. I know that we can truly light the world and help everyone know that Christ lives and loves all of us. Thank you all for your love and support!

Amo vocês!

Elder Johnson