A baptism, Zone Conference and Thanksgiving

Oí família! Tudo bem??
Everything's great here--last week was great =] Thanksgiving, Zone Conference, and a baptism!
So this last week we had lunch on thursday with Fransisco (papai de Nolan) and Kalyla (mamãe), (Fransisco and Kalyla are parents of the samba-dancing toddler Nolan) who lived in Australia for over 6 years. So they knew what Thanksgiving was (Thanksgiving is celebrated in Australia? Maybe they had Americans in their ward there or something), and they offered to do a Thanksgiving Lunch for us =] We had chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy (something I miss substantially--they usually eat them dry here), rolls and stuffing =] Elder Morris' fiancé sent him stuffing in his last package (I told you guys he's engaged, right?), and so we had the opportunity to introduce stuffing to Fransisco's family, as they'd never had it before. Very exciting =]

Friday was our Zone Conference. I won't go over what was said, but I will say that Presidente Bezerra is a man inspired of God. Also, this last week we had 91 baptisms in the mission, which, I'm pretty certain, set the new record for baptisms in a week--normally we have about 50-60. So everyone's super pumped to keep baptizing at this rate =] Wish us luck!

And finally, last week Elder Morris and I had a baptism--Emylenne! She's engaged to one of our formerly less active members, Alan. His father, Pedro, performed the baptism, and it was a very special occasion, as all baptisms are.

So this week I have a special request--E. Morris and I are going to have Joaquim interviewed to be baptized. If all goes well, we'll baptize him this Sunday. So if you guy could pray for him to see the importance of this next step in his life, and to help him give up whatever keeps him from entering into this saving ordinance, I would greatly appreciate it.
Love you guys a whole bunch! Glad everything is well with you guys still! Have a wonderful week!
Elder McGregor


The happy birthday song here in Brasil:

Parabéns pra você (congratulations to you)
Essa data querida (this beloved date)
Muitas felicidades (much happiness)
Muitos anos de vida (many years of life)

x2 =]


And - The new scripture cap I've got for my triple combination
(scripture cover)

A family baptism, Zone Conference, and baby Nolan

Oi Familia!
Tudo bem? So guess what? Baptisms this week =] Maria Luiza (mom), Claudermir (dad), and Victoria (daughter) were baptized yesterday--references from the son Alexandre, and I'm way excited for them--they are truly a wonderfamily. I think Maria Luiza's mother, Maria Eva, will be baptized soon as well. I'm really grateful for having this experience--not many missionaries get to see a whole family baptized as a fruit of their teaching. I was sitting in the chapel before the baptism wondering to myself what I had said or taught that brought these wonderful people to realize the truth, and of course it wasn't anything I said--it was the spirit, and the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How thankful I am to be a missionary, to have the opportunity to share the truth with our brothers and sisters and see the fruits of that truth.

Me, Claudermir, Bishop, Maria Luiza, Victoria, Maria Eva, Elder Morris, Alexandre

We also had our zone conference this week. I'm also incredibly grateful for President and Sister Bezerra--they are such great inspirations. I love hearing them speak--it's almost like having general conference every six weeks.

me with Pres. & Sister Bezerra

the Téresopolis zone

These 2 the pictures are of Nolan, a bebêzinho in our ward (he's at that age where if you talk to him he understands, but doesn't really talk yet). If you ask him, "Cadê Jesus?" (Where's Jesus?), he'll give you the 'I dunno' hands (the picture of me and him). If you then show him a picture of Jesus, Nolan will point to him (the picture of Nolan with his mom, Kalyla). He's so stinkin' cute, haha. The Jesus in the photo is the picture I put on the front of my daily planner, and every time Nolan sees me, he points to my breast pocket because he wants to look at Jesus. Children are amazing, huh?

Cadê Jesus? (Where's Jesus?)

There he is!

So anyway, hope things are well at home. Love you all!

Elder McGregor

Here is a picture of E McGregor with Rosângela, whom he referenced in his first 9/21 letter from the area he and his new companion had been sent to re-open. She had shared this heart-felt story with them:

"We suffered without missionaries. I suffered, my family suffered, and the ward suffered. And I knew immediately that my attitude had been terribly wrong. We spoke with our son, the Bishop, about how we could re-open our area. We decided that we needed to show the mission president that the ward Conselheiro Paulino was ready to have missionaries again. The next Sunday, the leaders of our ward decided we would present investigators to the mission president to show our willingness to work with the missionaries. We came up with six names--six people who needed the lessons of the missionaries because they were very interested in the church. We presented them to President Bezerra, and he told us he would open the area again. And our hearts were filled with joy."

And... Jay and Judy - I'm thinking you'll get a kick out of this!

Me being... interesting? I was whistling, ha.