Hey everyone! Let me tell you all, Brazil is a special place. I can't think of anywhere else where so many people are willing to invite missionaries in to hear the message of the restored gospel. At the same time, it's frustrating that the vast majority of these people let the importance of our message go completely over their heads. For example. We found nineteen new investigators this week, out of those nineteen, we will only continue teaching one person. How does that happen? It goes a lot like this...

We clap in front of a house. Someone comes out and asks us who we are. We tell them that we are missionaries and that we have an important message. They excitedly let us in, give us water, tell us all about their faith and how much they read the Bible. We proceed to teach the most important message we have, the message of truth and love that is the Restoration of the Gospel. After testifying as sincerely and as powerfully as we can about a living prophet and Christ's true church on the earth, we usually get a response like, "Well that's nice, but I really like my church" or "I didn't really understand anything you taught, but I like to hear people talk about Jesus." 

And that would be why we have to drop so many of these new investigators. It is frustrating, but I've learned that it is necessary to save time, but I always remember my days in the US and remember how hard it was just to get a lesson and I can't help but marvel at the prepared hearts of the people here in Brazil.

Anyway, to get away from my griping, let me cover some of the things that happened this week. We started of the week with a division with the Assistants, Elders Phipps and J Batista. They helped us out with a good training and a lot of work. Later in the week, I had another division with the Elders of Rondonopolis Third Branch. I love divisions! It's so sweet to learn from other missionaries and get to know knew areas and techniques. Other than those events, we walked a LOT this week, and I can testify firsthand of the inhumate temperatures that we are having here. It is SO HOT, and it's been literally months since it's rained. And everyone says that the hottest part of the year is yet to come. Boy am I excited for that...

But, despite the heat and hard work, I'm loving it as always. The mission is flying on by and I've got to take advantage of it while I'm here!

Ate mais!

Elder Johnson