From Touchdowns to Baptisms: Holy cow! What a week!!

Hey everyone! So, I feel like it has been FOREVER since I have emailed. I had so many things that happened this week but a lot of it was just traveling. Tuesday I was transferred. We had to catch a bus in Campos to go to Vitória then another to go to the chapel. We got there and I found out that I was transferred to Linhares!! Ever since my first area I really wanted to serve in Linhares. It is a really nice city. The only thing that would make it better is if they would have the streets organized. They haven't figured this out yet in Espírito Santo. It is a beast to work with. There are many houses without numbers and then the rest are all out of wack! It will take some time figuring it out and getting used to but that's ok. So Tuesday night we traveled to Linhares which is a 3:30 hour drive from Vitória but the traffic was so bad that we didn't get out of VITÓRIA until a hour later. There was also a big accident so we didn't get to our house until about midnight. By the time we got there we were all exhausted!! We woke up and went to work at 6:30 on Wednesday.

Thursday morning we had to get back on a bus to go to Colatina, a city another 3:30 hours west of Linhares to have a "Mission Conference" with half of the mission. We were able to hear Elder Mazzagardi from the 1st quorum of the 70 and the 1st counselor in the Area presidency. Elder Mazzagardi is so funny and he is awesome!!! I learned many many things from him. One thing that he talked about was a "Neutral Zone". He told all of the missionaries that there is no such thing as a "Neutral Zone" after baptism and conformation. And even more after you enter the Temple. He said that a neutral zone is where we can stay safe from any type of gun fire but once we leave and make that decision to follow Christ, the bullets start flying and if we take time to rest, look back, or anything else than focusing on the real prize and what we are fighting for, we will get hit! And it is SO hard to get back up and back on the right side. He quickly stated that this doesn't mean that you can't come back, this is why Christ died for us, but it is hard. It is so much better and so much easier if we don't fall. We can get through this in many other ways than taking a bullet! He talked VERY direct with us. As humans we will be sealed. EACH OF US!! Either we will be sealed to Jesus Christ, or to Satan. Everything depends on what we do here on this earth. This is why the angels are noting everything that we do. It is to try to help us return to our Savior. It was an amazing conference and I am so glad I was able to hear him speak. He went way over because of the things that he taught us. He is such an amazing man of God!!

After that it POURED in Colatina! It was SO BAD!! So I am trying to herd cats to try to get our district out of the Chapel and get everyone back to the Rodoviário. We left and it started to rain a little while we are walking super fast. Then we get a call from the LZ saying that the bus is at the station and is ready to leave and to run. We sprint and it starts to POUR!!!!!! Everything is flooding and there are 4 missionaries sprinting in the middle of the city asking how to get to the station. They all tell us wrong so we have to run back where we came from and at this time I thought we lost and that were too late. We get there and the bus is just leaving!! WE MADE IT!!!!!! Soaking wet but we made it! Then we had a bus transfer and waited in another station for SO LONG! Because of the rain many buses were stopped and didn't get there so everyone is cold and wet but again right around midnight we got home. But everything is good! I love the mission! I love where I am serving and who I am serving with! What a good week!!!!! Can't wait to tell you more about this week here on Monday! I love you all!!!