Estancia, Charades, Baptisms and Stop and Think!

The update from Elder Darke!

Woooo!

    This week has been amazing!  I got transfered to a new area called estancia.  (i think).  So everything is new.  New house, companion, ward, city, everything. However I have really enjoyed getting used to the changes and discovering new things :D.

    So my companion is Elder L. Nasimento.  He is a brazilian that doesnt speak english (very much) but he has had many english companions so he can understand american portugese very well :D.  He really enjoys playing soccer and he is cool :D. the best part though is that he is weird! like me! :D.  The launguage barrier at times is hard, but i keep my dictionary around and we can communicate fairly well :D.  We are both becoming masters at surades (the game where you act out what you are trying to discribe. I dont know how to spell it :D) though! :D.

    My new area is Estancia!  It is a very large area, and unfortuatly for me, the street system doesnt make sense.  However I am finding that to be common in brazil :D.  Im sure i will get used to it soon :D.  The members here are super nice though :D.  They are helping us a lot by comming with us teaching and simmilar activities :D.  and they are all trying to help me learn portugese :D.  They are all super awesome.

    Oh and I played soccer for the first time in brazil :D.  It was the other day with some members and it was way fun :D.  Brazilians are really good with their feet, but I dont think they are used to playing against a six foot white boy :D.  So we had a fun time!  it was hard to play in dress clothes, but the feild was really small so we didnt have to run too much :D.

    A new thing is that we are getting a new mission president!  He wont be here until April i think.  However he is an american that doesnt speak portugese :D!  Its going to be so much fun :D.  So that is going to be new to :D.  I like my mission president now though, so I am not desperate for it to happen or anything, I am just excited to see how fast he learns portugese, becuase he will need to learn it fast :D

    SO GUESS WHAT HAPPENED!  Two days after I got here the missionaries in the area had 2 babtisms :D.  and I did one of them!  :D  WOOOO!  Her name is Tachiana :D  (Tachiana secadea de fraities).  And the thing that I was most worried about was forgetting her name becuase, come on, that is a long name.  But everything went well, and the spirit was so strong!  I was so happy that (even though I had just met her) She was going into the waters of babtism :D.  It made me so happy! :D  I couldnt stop smilling that day :D.

    As I think about it it reminds me of the saying, ´´If you bring just one soul to God, how great will be your joy :D.´´.  As I look forward I see the rest of my mission, and the time I have to help people be batbtised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Which I have a personal knowledge that this church is true.  I know it with all my heart, and there is so much comfort that I gain from knowing that.  

    Now as you go about your day,  just take a moment to stop and think.  What is it that I have?  You have the words of life.  You have knowledge that can calm the mind and comfort the soul.  You know what happened before life, and what will happen after.  You know the secrets to eternal happiness.  Now look around, all those people you see, there are at least some of them that dont have what you have.  They are lost and are kept from the truth simply becuse they dont know where to find it.  This is your great privilage.  To help people learn about the truth.  It may be scary at first.  You may not know what to say.  Or when to say it.  To these problems I think the best think it to ask heavenly father for help.  He will give you opportunities, and he will help you have the right words to say.  The right words are somtimes not what we expect.  They are not alway elegent, or at times (especially for me) even understandable.  However as we listen to, and follow the spirit we can work wonders.  This I know to be true.

:D

Elder Darke seems to be doing well!  His other email to me was brief, but he sounded cheerful as usual.  I hope he continues to adapt well and enjoy teaching the gospel.
You are all welcome to spread this blog around to others who know and don't know Elder Darke.  He wants to be able to touch as many lives as possible.  You never know when certain words that you share can touch anothers life.
Love, Melanie (Mom)