WEEK 25: December 16, 2019

Elder Hammond with new companion, Elder Barbosa

This week was good!!  Lots of walking and showing the area to my new companion, Elder Barbosa!  Started off the week with a meeting with the branch President here in Vacaria, who told us he would like it if we focused on strengthening the members here and visiting the less-actives, and helping grow the branch in this way for now.

So this week we visited a lot of members!  Which means I don't have a great story to share from this week unfortunately.  But my new companion is an awesome guy!  He drinks more coke than water and makes ramen every night, but is the skinniest guy I've met!

Healthy eating by Elder Barbosa

I gave him my ukulele and we are working on a duet with my guitar -> hopefully next week I'll have a video for you guys!  This week I saw a lot of pictures of skiing at home, feeling a little jealous here in the blazing hot sun!!  so much for a white Christmas!  Living life down here in Brazil is different!  Life is good.  Thanks for reading!

-Elder Hammond

Merry Christmas, Elder Barbosa...

Obrigado, Elder Hammond!!!

From our conversation:
His new companion is from Fortaleza Brazil.  He was baptized as a child, age 8.  His parents are not members, but he has one brother who is a member and also served a mission.  He is 20 years old now.  Funny story with his companion:  He went home for some legal reason and thought he was just sent home for good.  He became the executive secretary in his ward and one day noticed that a plane ticket had been issued to him from the church to go back to Florianopolis.  By that time, he was planning his wedding.  He got a phone call from the mission president telling him that they needed him back on the mission.  This good boy told his parents and his fiance that he was going back!

This is what Andrew does with his mornings on P-day when his companion takes a nap.