6 January 2010

I didn’t spend New Year’s in Novo Mundo. On Thursday night I received a call that I was involved in another emergency transfer. The next day at 6:00 PM I was at the mission office with about ten other missionaries. The Americans have been having trouble getting their visas, and many are stuck there in the Provo MTC. Two of them were lucky enough to get theirs, and they were shipped off directly to Curitiba. Two other missionaries became their companions (and one of their original companions took my place in Novo Mundo). At the same time, two short-term missionaries from Curitiba were called into service, and I received Elder Ribeiro from Colombo, Curitiba as my companion.

We have been sent to Rio Bonito (“Beautiful River”), a branch that had been closed this last transfer due to lack of missionaries. It is still within the city limits of Curitiba. Wow, it is really different to show up in an area where there is no missionary to show you the town or continue the work that has been going on. The last Elders here left some small notes, but for the most part, we’re starting from scratch, and things here are going great! We’re teaching A LOT of people, and many of them are very excited to hear about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It has also been an interesting experience working with a new missionary, especially when he is short-term( he’ll be leaving to serve in the Porto Alegre Brazil Mission in March) and a Brazilian. I find it difficult to use many of the tactics that Elder Cacio used with me because I had a language and a culture to learn. Elder Ribeiro, on the other hand, already knows everything about that, but things are still going great.

Outside of that, not much is different. The work is still going strong. I’m trying to adapt to a new area. It’s really interesting because this area is almost entire homes. Very few people actually work IN Rio Bonito. Everyone leave during the day and returns at night.

I’m glad to hear that everything went great with Dad’s trip to visit Jennifer, Aaron, Justin, and William. I can’t believe that Aaron is already 10 and Justin is already 8. I hope there’s still time to watch them grow up.

Until next week,
Elder Floyd