Kelsey's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY!!!!

So, seriously, the first thing that ran through my mind this morning was `holy crap, my younger sister is a legal adult....Im getting old, you are 18, going to college, all that fun stuff. Doesn't time just fly. Man, I just barely graduated Summit, and Kelsey is already there as well.

Shout outs to Bishop Garrick, Bishop Sanborn, Mom, Grandma Jeanie, and assorted missionaries. Thanks for the awesome letters, I will try to get letters back to you soon.

And grandfather, thanks for the awesome emails and the advice. of course I will write you a letter...but I thought that I already did just recently...but who knows. And man, we got a STEAL for Cutler. Two first round draft picks, a third, and another QB?!?!? AWESOME

Ok, I definitely and trying to get personal and connect with people. Following the rules is great...but you don't have to be a stranger. Some missionaries lose this aspect of the mission, that people trust you more and you become a better missionary and a better teacher when you become integrated into the peoples lives...not just a wierd stiff that visits every couple days to talk about religion.

THIS WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK
The highlight was definitely general conference. It was pretty sweet. We made the good trip to Sorocaba to the capela de Trujilo to watch conference on Saturday and sunday. What was even better, was that they set up a room for us english speaking missionaries! WAHOO! Sure, it was broken for the first session of Saturday conference, (portuguese is cool, but just doesnt have the same feeling as english...there is only so much translators can do). But yeah, after it was fixed and I was able to watch the rest of the sessions in english. L. Tom Perry´s talk was definitely very good for all the members. REMEMBER HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO GIVE REFERENCES. I think here in my mission, about 70% of the baptisms are from member references...and the rest are finds of the missionaries. Pretty crazy. It just helps a lot.

But, personally, my favorite talks were those by Jeffrey R. Holland, and the priesthood session talk by President Uchtdorf. But Elder Holland´s was amazing. The spirit that he gave talking about the last week of Christ´s mortal life was incredible. Everybody here had eyes glued to the tv, pens set down, and mouths hanging open. It was an incredible talk...and I learned a lot about missionary service and the inconceivable power at our dispense through prayer and faith. Amazing.

We had two investigators go to conference this past weekend. yep, you guessed it...Carlos and Evandro. Was great. Evandro was interviewed Monday for baptism and he will se batizar this saturday at 7 pm....if any of you can make it haha. But yeah, he is a very special kid and is going to be a great addition to the Lords Kingdom. He has already committed himself to serving a mission of his own in the future..what a stud. I think he will really help the branch here in Boituva. And Carlos, he will be baptized next month, 2nd of May. He is very excited and is an amazing person. Elder Cruz was just talking with me about this last night...Carlos and his family arent investigators anymore...they are like are grandparents and cousins...its incredible how much love they have for everybody. Truly a good example of what it means to be charitable.

Elder Bry