I´m so sorry that I wasn´t able to send a very good letter last week! I had checked my email, and found out that there would be a big meeting in Porto on Tuesday, but because I live so far away, I had to cut my P-day in half and take a bus on Monday. So, sorry about that, haha!
But I´m glad that I went to the meeting! On the way there (like, on the bus), I found out that it was going to be two full days, instead of one day! So I was grateful that I packed a little bit extra, haha. It was fun to be able to see so many missionaries that I haven´t seen for a while. All of my past companions were there, so it was nice to be able to catch up with them a little bit. Especially with my trainer, Elder Cardenuto, who I haven´t seen since December!
We learned a lot at this meeting, and most of it was pretty interesting (despite being two full days ;) ). The zone leaders and sister training leaders each did a presentation about some aspect of missionary work or leadership. I walked away realizing that I needed to be a better leader for my district, and excited to put into practice some of the things they talked about!
Something that we have started doing to help out our branch here in Castelo Branco is to make a list of those members that missed church on sunday ( those who usually come, or who have come within the last several months), and then contact them during the week to see how they are. I read about this idea somewhere, and I decided to put it into practice in our branch (because our branch really needs help with church attendance). And it seems to be working. Last transfer the highest number we saw at church was about 25; but the last three weeks we have had over 30 members!
A Ukrainian family just moved into the branch, and they don´t speak portuguese! The daughter knows english, but the brother and parents only know Russian. But that didn´t stop the dad from bearing his testimony two sundays ago. He went up and spoke in Russian, his daughter translated into English, and the branch president translated into Portuguese. And the spirit was super strong! I´ve been able to translate for them in Sunday School, and it´s forcing me to pay more attention,haha.
As for our investigators, we have been teaching a 72-year-old Catholic woman in her purse shop,haha. One day we were walking down the street when she yelled for us, and asked us to teach her in her store. So we went in and taught her the first lesson. She has just gone through a hard divorce after 42 years of marriage, and feels without direction. But she has lots of faith in God, and reads the Bible every day. We have been teaching her the lessons, and she really enjoys them, and almost went to church this Sunday!
Djara has been progressing pretty well, and is really enjoying the lessons. We were able to teach her boyfriend, Zé, this last week as well, and it went super well. Afterwards, they gave us some homemade desserts from Cape Verde. I forgot the name (something in Creole), but they can be described pretty much as "banana bread puffs" haha.
We have several other people that we will start teaching this week, including a rich shoe shop owner, a geneologist, and a family of four!
I hope you all know that I love you so much! I miss you guys! I know this Church is true!
Have a good week!
Love,
Elder Barker
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