September 30 ~ First week in the field

okay, so this was my first week in the field! i am in andré carloni, or if you look on a map i'm in serra right around vitória. It's so awesome to finally be in the field. The first day was fun we left the ctm at around 5:30 in the morning and arrived in vitória around i want to say 10. The president's house is a penthouse near the beach and has an amazing view. It's so pretty there. We spent about 4 hours at the president's house and then went to the transfer meeting. My companion is Elder Peterson from Logan Utah. Huge blessing having a companion that can speak english because then he can understand what i am trying to say and help me say it. I recieved a huge blessing because most of the time I can kinda understand what most people are saying. I understand almost everything some one that used to speak english says but the brazilians are a lot harder to under stand. however that has been a huge blessing to understand as much as I do.

Another huge blessing has come with speaking the language. The spirit has helped me so much say so many things I didnt think I could say. It truly is amazing how much the spirit helps us. Like an example was last night we were teaching a lady that has read the book of mormon twice and her 2 kids are baptized but she still hasn't recieved her answer. The spirit helped me testify about recieving answers and I feel like I spoke normally and fluently while I was doing that. It truly was an amazing experience. I love the people here, they are so amazing and I love the work I am doing. It truly is the Lords work because there is no way 19 year olds can go do this. His hand is every where in our lives. We have meet so many amazing people that we have started teaching (haha teaching is a different story, it's a lot easier to testify than to teach for me right now but I'm working on it) The people here don't have much and i realized i don't have much right now either but I have everything I need. And i am full of joy. I love teaching families about the gospel because I feel such a great love for them and I feel their desire to learn. It's crazy becuase the kids always get things way before the parents do. There are so many amazing people in the ward here too, church the other day was super fun, and I understood perfectly one of the lessons taught but I still have a long way to go to learn portuguese. But there is no ther place I would rather be. 

As for my package it hasn't arrived yet but the mtc will send anything that needs to be to the mission it needs to go to. If you have a tracking number call the tracking number and check where it is. Did my letter get there? Let me know when it does because it took 8 stamps to send. Way expensive. but worth it. As for the camera.....so the last day of the ctm we were taking pictures and I gave it to a sister to take a picture and she dropped it right when I let go....so as of right now it doesn't work but I can fix it, the lens shifted I just need to find some one to fix it or have the time myself to but don't worry about it. It will get done and don't stress about it either. I have plenty of time to fix it. Scripture study is good and always fun but a little difficult because i'm in second nephi and in the isaiah part, in portuguese....so i had to slow down. but it's always good. That's awesome about how everyone is doing. I love and miss you all. Make sure you read and pray every day, and when you are EXACTLY obedient you ALWAYS recieve blessings d&c 130. PAtriarichal blessings are really important and I encorage those that don't have it to go get it. It's a huge blessing but don't just take my word for it, find out for yourself. That's what the gospel is all about finding out for yourself. Us missionaries simply testify about the truth and invite all to "come and see." I love you all and miss you!

Elder Simonsen