Week 74 December 10, 2007

Family,

This week we had a lot of great things happen. First of all we had our Christmas Zone Conference in Alegrete! There were two conferences in the mission- one in Alegrete and the other in Santa Maria. There were a lot of missionaries and it was great to see so many friends. I did receive the two packages that you sent. Thanks so much for everything. I opened .up one of the packages but the one with pajamas and candy I didn’t open yet. I received everything in perfect condition. Elder Frame, one of the elders living in the same house as I, received a paper saying that one of the items in his package was taken by the post office in Santa Maria and that if he wants the item he has to pay $116. I don’t know exactly why but maybe they found something that wasn’t named on the box. You always do a great job in wrapping and sending the packages and I haven’t ever had any problems.

The conference was amazing. Elder Ellis of the second quorum of the seventy spoke with us and gave us a great message on the spirit and having more faith as missionaries. He said that he asked Elder Didier, a general authority, one day what someone needs to do to gain more faith. Elder Didier responded and said that it’s easy- Do things that require faith. Elder Ellis told us we need to make more promises to people, invite people to pray and be baptized. President Myrrha also talked about a lot of the spiritual experiences he had in his life.

Also after the conference we left the chapel and I was completely shocked. There was a big group of people from Alegrete waiting. Me, Elder Luciano, and Elder Ferreira have passed by the same area and ward and a bunch of members from the ward passed by. It was so nice to see everyone. Sister Rosa and her family were there and she gave me and elder Luciano a key chain to always remember her. Also one of my favorite families came. Elizabeth and her family Tamires, Jessica, Claudia, and Tiago. I was able to talk to them for a long time until the bus left.

There’s a recent convert here named Ataualpa that is a huge example to me. He always talks about how much the church has changed his life and how happy he is. This week we were shocked to hear that he made up the decision that he won’t attend church any more. We tried to find out exactly what happened to have him make this decision. He didn’t tell us exactly what happened but said that he feels like he has received more pressure that he can handle and that he’s giving in to the pressure. We had a nice discussion with him about the importance of him having a testimony and we’re going to return again tonight and try to discover how big this iceburg really is.

Oh Ataualpa said that he would love to see a picture of my family in the snow. Is there any way you could take a picture of the whole family in the snow and email it to me? Try to email this photo in its normal size though so I can develop it here.

I’m having a lot of great experiences here and I’m very excited for Christmas. Are the Christmas lights already up and the Christmas tree? Have a great week everyone and I love you all!!!

I love you infinity!!!
Elder Fowler