Brazil Week #49

Hey everybody good morning, and happy thanksgiving this week. Brazil doesn't celebrate thanksgiving so maybe i will get lucky and we will have chicken during lunch on Wednesday, I think that's the closest Ill get to turkey. haha So it was a good week this week, I was disappointed with our investigators who are ready to be baptized but Satan is doing what he always does and puts fear and doubts in their  hearts. Our investigators say they want to wait until they can be sure that they are ready for baptism and they can know that they will stay firm after the baptism. We explain explain and explain, about how they will be waiting for a long long time if they want to have a certainty like that, baptism is an act of faith that is something that the Lord has always required, he always requires faith he will guide and point to the correct path but he will never force or push anyone to do anything. That's what Satan tries to do, he tries to push and shove and convince with his lies and force people to do things, that's not how Heavenly Father is, He shows us the path and whats right and then he lets us make the choice for ourselves. He gave us our agency which is one of the greatest gifts that he has given us, Satan wanted to take away our agency in the premortal world and he still wants to do it today. Its a pain that most people want to have God walk up to them and tell them what to do, when he can do the same thing through the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. Stinks that alot of people want more answers from god even after the Spirit had born witness of the truth to them. We made sure that Elder Almeida got in a good last week of work, I think we did well. We found some new investigators that I look forward to working with the next transfer. Speaking of transfers here's the what's new, Elder Almeida is being transferred to his home in the state of Santa Catarina, and I will be training my new companion who is coming fresh out of the states after serving their for more than 6 months haha, I will be training Elder Payne. I'm not sure where he is from but I'm pretty sure he has been serving in Montana for the last 6 months while waiting for his visa, he is from the same group as Elder Mayolo who is a good friend of mine here on this mission, I remember that Elder Mayolo mentioned that there was an Elder Payne in his group and was serving in Montana, I know that Elder Mayolo entered the mtc back in march when I was still in New York, so that means Alder Payne has 8 months on the mission now. Sounds like it wont be much of a training for him I'm sure he knows everything, the assistants said as well when they called with the transfer that he has already been district leader and was serving as a zone leader. geeze, I think it should be him that should be training me. I think he will probably just need help with the language which I am excited about, I think it will be fun having language study with my companion again. That has to stink though having 8 months on the mission and already having been district leader and zone leader and then having to go back down to being trained again. But I'm sure he is a humble guy and will learn quick and we will work hard together. I'm pretty stoked to be able to just give it my all now it should be a great transfer. Went on splits again this week elder Linton came again and we had a good day, Elder Linton is a good friend from my group. He was with a Bolivian but now he will be with his first American companion named Elder John, I think he has a year 5 months on the mission he will be our district leader, I had already met him before at mission conferences. One of our zone leaders Elder Moura that arrived in the area with me was transferred to the south again he will train a Chilean and open an area, We were surprised that he was transferred after only one transfer here but he said that he had asked president in an interview to be released from being a zone leader cause he had already spent more than  a year as a zone leader and he asked president if he could train. I'm glad that president is letting him do that. I'm excited to train as well. Ill never forget my trainer here in Brazil Elder Reed, he is in the south so I haven't seen him in almost 7 months. He is doing well though and is a zone leader down in the south. I got my hair cut this week, I had them cut it pretty short its probably the shortest I have ever had my hair before, its alright though I like, my hair is a lot lighter in color, bleached from the sun, its also alot thinner so I think it makes the color seem lighter as well. Ill just do what dad does when i get back home and cut it super short, hopefully I can look good and tough like dad does without hair haha. Saturday we taught this girl that works at the ice cream shop here. She had a load of questions that had a load of nothing to do with nothing. She said that she believed in the bible but not in the Prophets or apostles and stuff cause she had never seen them before. She had a pretty weird theory on alot of things, but we taught her the first lesson in the ice cream shop in between customers, we promised that she would received an answer if she prayed. She was like how do you guys have such certainty that these things are true, and how do you have so much certainty that I can receive an answer. She had alot of questions like that, We just told that that we had already prayed and felt that it was true. The next day we went back and said that she had prayed and that she had felt good after the prayer, she said she believed it was a answer from God. She lives in the area of the Elder Linton and his companion, so they will have to teach her, she wanted it to be us that taught her but we explained that we would have to take the bus to go to her house but that there are Elders that live close and they will teach her. So Sunday was good, I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, I was the last speaker and I had alot more prepared but there wasn't a whole lot of time, but it was really good. We also had two investigators randomly show up that we had cut a long time ago, they enjoyed church so hopeful we can get them baptized. Yesterday we made some last minute visits and Elder Almeida  said goodbye to the members. We had dinner and we received transfer calls. I'm pretty excited right now, I don't think my companion will arrive till Wednesday or Thursday, I was thinking about all the crazy problems we had when we came to Brazil, but we finally made it. We got to the mission home at about 2 in the afternoon on Tuesday, and our plane had left at about 5 in the evening the day before, so it was about 24 hours till we got to the mission, and then after that we had all the stuff with president where he told us where our areas would be and who would be our trainers, then we bummed at the mission home for the rest of the day and rested then the next day we had to do all our passport visa identity stuff to get us legalized in the country. I didn't arrive in my area until late Thursday night. Crazy times but I will never forget those first few days here in Brazil. So that's about all I have to write this week, so I will send some sweet pics to you guys. I love you all and thanks for all your prayers and thoughts, know how much I love all of you and am so grateful to have such a wonderful family and friends.  I  am grateful to be a member of the Lord´s true and living church here on the earth, and I'm grateful to be a missionary here in the Brazil Cuiabá Mission, the greatest mission in the world. But above all I'm grateful for my Brother and Savior Jesus Christ, He is my Master and I will always worship him and he will always be my King, and I know that it is only through him and his Atonement that I will be able to be happy and live with my family forever. I hope everyone has a great week and that you all have a wonderful thanksgiving. 

Com Amor

-Elder Kennington