The closure and re-opening of Conselheiro Paulino; Valter, Rosângela and Maicon; speaking Portuguese; and a faithful people

Família!
So I've decided to send a couple journal entries--they explain stuff pretty well =]
I've been transferred from Barra Mansa as of Monday of this last week and I'm now in the Téresopolis zone, area Conselheiro Paulino (CONE-sell-ee-AIR-o pow-LEEN-o). My new companion is Elder Morris from Bountiful Utah. He has 8 months on his mission, and it's his first time being a senior. The CP area is special, because it was closed before we arrived. Both Elder Morris and I are new to the area. Thankfully there is a member couple here that lives 2 doors down--Valter and Rosângela--who are very very helpful. We would have been completely lost without them. They are wonderful people, and are excited to help in the work.
We were speaking with Rosângela two days ago, and she spoke of a time in her life where she didn't really want to member missionary work (this is abnormal for her--she's always done member missionary work along with her husband, Valter, and son, Maicon [who is the bishop of our ward]). She explained soon afterward that the area closed--the missionaries were taken out. She then became very emotional, and cried, saying, "We suffered without missionaries. I suffered, my family suffered, and the ward suffered. And I knew immediately that my attitude was 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."
Now this isn't an exact quote, because she speaks Portuguese, but it is more or less what she said, and follows the spirit of what she said. And wow. I was amazed, and am still at her faithfulness. She truly is amazing. And so I'm thankful for the opportunity to open this area with Elder Morris, that we were chosen, and I don't want to screw it up =]
But also, things have changed significantly since Barra Mansa. I speak much better, and I understand the majority of what people say. I'm truly grateful, because I'm a much more effective missionary as a result. I have more or less 3.5 months on my mission--1.5 in the field. And I can speak Portuguese. In fact, I'm almost fluent--I don't think about it anymore. When I speak with Brazilians I don't have English words in my head. It's amazing, and I know it wouldn't be possible without the Lord's blessings.
I'm thankful everyday for everything I have been given. I'm thankful to be here in Brasil, with such a faithful people. When we do street contacts, people don't run. We ask them if we can share a message with them in their home, and they almost always accept. The people here love God and are always ready to receive his word.

With love, Elder McGregor

New area!: Conselheiro Paulino

Check out where E McGregor is now!
(pictures from Google Earth):Yellow - new area, Conselheiro Paulino
Purple - first area, Barra Mansa
Red - Rio de Janeiro

Photos from his first area (Barra Mansa)

Below are pictures Trent took in his first area, Barra Mansa. We got these with the latest email.
The descriptions are his.A lovely picture of a part of Barra Mansa. Really pretty.


Tatiani and Patrick, who I and Elder Makiama baptized 2 weeks ago, along with Elson, who is the member who helped with the baptism.


A lizard we found in our house. We caught it and named it Bob. We let him go shortly afterward, not wanting to let him die.


A sloth I came across. I'll try to send a video as well. It's totally awesome.


A service project we did at the Stake President's house. We helped him construct the third level of his house.


The "after" photo of part of the wall. We actually filled the whole wall, not just half. So we got a lot done, actually. And I learned how to mix cement and do masonry. So now I'm a mason. And I'm free. But not both at the same time =]

LOL :D

A transfer!

Yesterday evening when we hadn't received an email, I sent this email to him (a bit of chastisement):

The subject line was "Don't make me come down there >{ "

Hey Son -

Barring major catastrophes, you should be emailing your family every week. Emails to us take precedence over anyone else save your mission president. It is distressing, and a major letdown, to have you so far away, knowing we are supposed to hear from you every week and to hear nothing. Please keep us in the loop. I've never heard of any other family who has had such "bad luck" with emails.

We love you bunches,

Mum

and this morning there was a response (I wasn't expecting to hear from him until next Monday, so it was a very pleasant surprise)!:

Sorry I didn't write you yesterday, but I've been transfered to a new area, so there wasn't time. I can tell you're a little put out, but please don't assume I didn't write you because I didn't feel like it. And I'm pretty sure I haven't missed a week yet without good reason. So things like this will happen, so I love you, and you're going to have to trust me that I'm not ignoring you. Because I'm not, and won't.
New area is interesting so far. It's called Conselheiro Paulino, in the Téresopolis zone. My new companion is Elder Morris, from Bountiful Utah. I'm his first Junior companion--he's got 8 months on his mission. And the area we're in was closed before, so we're opening it and know nothing about it. Crazy. But there's a member couple that lives very close to us that has been helpful thus far, and with their help I'm sure we'll get accustomed to the area fairly quickly (no baptisms yet =]) Sorry can't write much more, but I'm sending an email with lots of pictures, which hopefully will make up for it =]
Love you all!
Elder McGregor

No email today : (

Brazilian Independence Day, baptisms and a fear of water, a lizard named Rihanna

Oí Família!
Dude, super otimo (great) about the BYU-Oklahoma game. Now they just need to keep doing that, right?
So today is Sete de Setembro, or in other words, the Brazilian Independence Day. So all the LAN houses (internet cafes, I presume...) in my area were closed and we're now running an hour behind schedule because we took a bus to get here to email. Very exciting, haha. For some interesting reading, you guys can look up the history of Brazil and how they got their independence. It happened before the US, and it's not much different, actually =]
Latest letter I got from you guys I don't remember the date, but you talked about Katie's car, katie wrote a third of a page (again =]), leese asked what Brazil Nuts are called here in Brazil (still don't know, sorry), dad talked about 4 man scramble in the golf tournament (I think?). So yeah.... sorry, don't remember the date.
So this week we had two more baptisms! I've got some awesome awesome awesome photos, but in the LAN house we're in I can't upload photos. Sad day. So let's see, the baptisms were Tatiane (30ish?) and her son Patrick (11). We've been working with Tati for about 3 weeks now because she had a fear of being baptized because of her relatives. We really couldn't convince her. But luckily there's a member in our ala (ward) who she wants to namorar (be the girlfriend of, and other things =]), and he talked to her about the importance of baptism, temple marriage, etc. So last p-day after email she saw us in the street and told us she wanted to be baptized. Shows the power of members, right?
So the baptism was yesterday, and there were only about 6 other people there besides us, the missionaries, because of Tati's fear of being baptized. And it turns out her son is agua-phobic (just made that up, haha), but he really wanted to be baptized. Aaaand to make matters more difficult, the heater for the baptismal font is broken at the moment. So the water was freezing- bunda (bum) cold. Tatiane's baptism went fine, but afterwards, it took about 40 minutes to baptize Patrick--he was afraid Elder Makiama was going to hold him under the water for an extended period of time. But eventually we got it done. Took about 6 tries because he kept flailing when his head hit the water and never went completely under. So in the end, Elder Makiama grabbed both his arms and dunked him super quick. Huzzah =]
Let's see, what else. Oh, we found a lizard in our house this morning. We caught it, Elder Makiama named it Rihanna (no idea why...), and it's chillin' in a box right now. We'll try to feed it, but I'm not really expecting great results, haha.
I also attended the my first mission conference this week, which was excellent. I've got a little handicap right now because I can't understand everything, but from what I understood it was great =]
Elder Makiama is from the state Rio Grande do Sul, city Porto Allegre. His portuguese is very clear, thankfully, and it's much easier to understand what he says than others. He likes to work. Which is great =]
So sad day about the swine flu, but happy day Elise survived. So what's up with swine flu? Is it what I always thought it was? A more mild version of the normal flu? Or is it actually deadly (I assume it's not because Leesie's not dead, haha)?
Well, love you all, glad everything is well!
Elder McGregor

An article from The Economist - Mormon Jet Blue founder starts new airline in Brazil, where he served a mission.

Brazil's new "Azul Airlines" (Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras) with LDS founder David Neeleman (founder and former CEO of Jet Blue)

The article really doesn't have anything to do with Trent's mission, but since Bro. Neeleman served his mission in Brazil and is now doing business there, it was of interest to me.

Click here to go to the article