Hello from Lucas!

Alrighty another week in Brazil :)

Things are going great:) Sister Martinez has been transferred to Cuiaba and we sure will miss her! but in her place Sister Kimball came to be sister Helena's companion. YAY! She is also our sister training leader and goes on divisions with us once a week. Which is great! She will be going home at the end of August so this is her last area here in Lucas with us. And we are so happy to have her, she has been teaching us so much and of course has brought her special spirit into our work. I'm so thankful that the lord sent her to us. We did not end up moving because our apartment isn't ready with furniture and the things that we need yet so more than likely we will be moving after this transfer. We will be receiving elders in this area next transfer as well. Our branch is very excited for that and was a little sad to hear that they wouldn't be coming this transfer. Also this week I had quite the traumatic experience. We had a district meeting in Sorriso which is about a two hour bus ride from Lucas. In Sorriso the church is an old two story house, kind of like the one we have in Lucas only a little bit nicer, but anyway... We were waiting for the elders to arrive so that we could begin our meeting and I went upstairs to use the bathroom. When I went to exit the bathroom, the door handle broke off in my hand. At first I thought I could fix it and get out but as I tried the door handle broke even more, making it utterly impossible for me to open the door. So I calmly tried to yell for help (in Portuguese) but after a while it became evident that nobody could hear me and I freaked out a little bit and began yelling (in English) for help and banging on the door. When my Companions finally found me they talked to me through the door and told me that the other side was broken too. Sister Inez tried to calm me down while talking to me through the door while sister Kimball got the door open. When they finally got the door open all I could do was stand there and hold out the piece of broken door knob to them with my shaky hand and cry. They were able to calm me down and later were able to laugh about it :) so that's my experience for this week ha-ha! Something super cool that happened this week is, one day we were walking to our lunch appointment when Sister Inez saw a book of Mormon on the bus stop bench. We stopped and asked the man that was standing at the bus stop if the book was his and he smiled this giant smile and told us it was his along with a bible and another book from another church. We asked him where he got it and he told us a man who passed by everyday had stopped and given it to him (we found out later that this man was the member whose house we were going to for lunch) anyway, we asked his name (Biano) and asked him if we could have his address so that we could pass by and share a message with him. He said You sure can! I live in that red car right there! while pointing to a very dirty broken down old car in a dirt lot behind the bus stop. Sister Inez being as sweet as she is, didn't miss a beat and wrote in my planner... BIANO... Red Car behind the bus stop. We came back the next day to teach him and he made us chairs out of a bucket and a piece of wood and an old broken plastic chair. When we were all situated in our spots he told us the story of his life. When he was younger he was an alcoholic and his family abandoned him, he lost his job and was forced to live in a type of shelter for alcoholics, which is where he found God. He began collecting religious books and quit drinking. He began moving from place to place until he ended up in Lucas living in an old red car and that's where we found him. We have been teaching him for a week and after everyone of our visits he tells us that he wants to be baptized right now! He has a baptismal date for July 5th :) Its so amazing to see people like him. and it makes me thankful for what I have. He has nothing and his family has still abandoned him, he has no house and no money but you could guess that he is the happiest man in the world because he has the scriptures and he has God. I feel so honored to be able to teach him and help him to be baptised.

We also have two great teenage kids who want to be baptised and we have taught them their family's and their friend's the first lesson so many times that they know it by heart. The only thing that is holding them back is they need their parents permission to be baptised, which their parents are not giving them permission. but all is well I have faith that someday as they continue to have faith in Christ they will be blessed and be able to be baptised. Well everyone that's all for this week :) I love you all and I miss you! Thank you for your prayers and your love!

Love Shelby