Week Sixty Eight

This week was filled with some pretty funny experiences.

I was teaching this investigator named Jardi about the sacrament. I was reading John 6 about the bread of life, and explaining how we won't have hunger if we eat of the bread of life, which is the body of Christ. I asked him if he wanted to eat this bread. he said: "No, thanks to God I've never passed hunger in my life." I started laughing, it was pretty funny. He hadn't had a drink in 3 months and on Saturday he ended up getting super wasted and didn't go to church on Sunday. He had commited as well. It was frustrating and annoying. We may cut him off but we will see this week. 

Also we visited this guy named Pedro. He went to plug in the fan into this wild circuit that he had on the floor. It was a mess of cords and extentions. He ended up plugging in another fan to the circuit, and when the fan turned on and started blowing he goes "OXI THIS FAN IS CRAZY" it was pretty funny. The guy was a little odd but I liked the visit a lot.

We have a baptism this week. Cleberson is going to be baptized on Saturday. He is super cool. I like him a lot, and has been progressing ridiculously well. We may have some baptisms this next week as well. There is a story I want to tell you but it would take too long to type it out. I'm thinking about making a video for the next week instead of sending an email. 

Also we have a skunk living in this crack between our house and the wall.

Have a good week, love you 

Elder Batten

(Luke's shoes)

Week Sixty Seven

Hey! I put in some pictures from my old area. There are some from a ward activity in which I ripped my shirt pocket, and from a baptism. I received them from a member today. So there you are, more pictures. 

This past week we went to Viçosa for the open house there. It was cool and went really well.  We made a lot of contacts there in front of the "chapel" Inviting people to make a quick tour. It was good. I think the church got a lot of good publicity for Sunday. On our way home that night we stopped by an investigators house and then returned home. 

On Wednesday we had changes with one of the assistants to the president. He came to our area and spent the day with us and left the next morning. 

We had Ward Conference this Sunday. The church was packed with members, and a lot of less actives. We got some references as well. So we will have a lot of work for this week. 

We are teaching this guy named Kleberson who recently returned from São Paulo and is currently living with his family again. We started teaching him and he went to church this Sunday. He has a baptismal date set for the fifth. He asks a lot of good questions during the lessons and pays good attention. Also we are teaching this man named Jardi who has a date set for the 12th. He has been progressing a lot this last week. He received an answer to his prayers and told us that he wants to follow and believes that the church is true. 

Have a good week, love you.

Elder Batten

Week Sixty Six

On Tuesday I had to go to Viçosa to do a baptismal interview. Viçosa is a bit of a travel so we did changes with the other companionship. We ended up getting there really late, so I had to do the interview Wednsday morning. We ended up returning late to our area, but we were able to knock out a visit with a member that night. We started teaching this guy named Edson who is family of a member. I sent some pictures from my area but also from Viçosa. Viçosa is very pretty. There are a lot of green hills and valleys there. But it's been a little difficult to work in our area with all of the divisions and interviews that we have to do.

We have been working a lot with the members to find new investigators. I'm pretty determined that we will be able to have more progressing investigators doing this. I'm tired of making contacts and working with my legs. So we are pretty dedicated to work with members right now. 

My companion saw a skunk in outside of our house between the walls and the house this week. I started to feel the reek of the skunk. But when I returned outside with him we weren't able to find the skunk. 

We are going to have a bunch of activities and work this week in preparation for ward conference this Sunday. So I'll take pictures. Also I have to return to Viçosa because they are going to be opening a "chapel". (Not really a chapel but nicer than the house they are in right now). 

Love you, have a good week.

Elder Batten

Week Sixty Five - Gurguri

I wouldn't say I was "happy" or "sad" about being transferred. I had a good time in Arapiraca. But I'm excited to be here in Gurguri right now. It is a really good ward, and the members have been helping us a ton so far. They're really receptive and willing to help. So we had a good week.
I spent Monday saying goodbye to people, and on Tuesday morning I went to the bus station and returned to Maceió. Went to my area and set up house. The area that I am at is called Benedito Bentes 2. We live on the street right next to the chapel. Put Rua das flôres Benedito Bentes 2 on google maps and you should find the church and the street we live on. The house here is nice. It is usually for 4 missionaries, but for right now there are only two. (the mission is becoming low on missionaries)

 

We had a lot of things to do this week with interviews, leadership training, and zone meeting. We had to do a lot of planning and traveling. But it was okay because the members helped us out quite a bit this week. We had a lot of help with finding investigators and having members go to appointments with us. I'm really liking this area. We spent a lot of time visiting the members and getting to know them. So we had a productive week. We weren't able to bring anyone to church on Sunday, but this week I'm pretty confident that we will have someone progressing.

 

Also one day this week my companion needed to take out money from the bank, so we had to go to the shopping center to do it. It was the first time in over a year I've entered a shopping center. It was strange, because I had forgotten that the shopping center has kind of a particular smell. 

 

My companion's name is Elder C.Morais. He is from São Paulo.

 

I'm going to send a picture from the past Monday. It's from Arapiraca.

 

Love you, 

Elder Batten

 

 

 

 

Week Sixty Four - Transfer Day

Hey! So this week was great. We had a baptism on Saturday. João Vitor was baptized. Also I finnished training my companion. And I am getting transfered. I'm going to return to the same Zone as Rio Largo. It's called Tabuleiro. And I'm going to be in the area Gurguri.

I will send some pictures for you in this email. Also we had a ward activity this week. It was really cool. I ripped my shirt pocket during the ward activity. I'll get some of the other pictures from a member afterwards. 

 

I'll send more next week.  ​

 

Love Elder Batten