Letter # 59- You know that I could use somebody... yeah

SOMEONE LIKE YOOOOOOOUUUUUU OH OH OH OH OH OH OH."
       My dear family!!! How is everyone doing!? From all the emails it sounds like you guys are doing great! I am glad to hear that the Marathon in San Diego went well for Allie and Kate. I really like the name Diego. I think that would be an awesome name for a son. That´s Elder Elias´ first name. It´s a good name. But that´s another story for another day.

Can I start off by saying how great the Lord is? In the trail of our afflictions, if we remain faithful, we are rewarded. Last week (really 2 weeks ago) Elder Elias was super sick. This past week no one was sick and we rocked it! We taught 30 lessons (normally we teach 21-23 per week), we taught 15 lessons with members present (normally it´s like 8-10) we had 12 investigators in Sacrament meeting (normally we have 5) and we had a frequency of 194 people at church! (normally it´s like 120). AND we are gonna have 5 baptisms this weekend! How blessed are we!? We have been working super hard.

Let me tell you about these people who will get baptized. First we have Dudu (Carlos Eduardo) He is 12 years old and a friend of Diordy. We started teaching him at Diordy´s house one day. We gave him a Book of Mormon. He read the parts we marked and knows that it´s true. He wants to get baptized. It is awesome!!! Next we have Igor and Larissa. Igor is 18-19 and Larissa is 15. They are the children of a inactive member, their mom. They are super excited to get baptized this weekend and we taught their cousins on Saturday night (they are 8 and 9). They went to church with them and they want to gett baptized now too. Super special children. We have Sônia and her 9 year old daughter, Maria Luiza. Sônia is the daughter of a woman named Maria that we have been teaching for over a month now. Maria is scared to get baptized, actually, she´s scared to go to church. We didn´t know why we were passing by. We actually cut Maria and then the next day we ended up at her house. and that´s when we met Sônia. It was weird. we taught the Word of Wisdom. Maria is the only person that I know of that drinks Black Tea (the tea that is against the Word of Wisdom). She wanted to know why she couldn´t drink it anymore and Sônia said, "Mom, it´s not exactly what´s in it. A prophet said not to drink so just don´t drink it." She is super excited to get baptized.

This week has been a blessing. Transfers were today. Me and Elder Elias will be staying together for another 6 weeks! YAY!

So these are some pics that we have taken. One of the zone with our new Zone teeshirts. one of our district. One of me in São José dos Pinhais. One of Maurício´s baptism. and one of our zone shirt! It could be the coolest shirt in the world. Our Zone´s theme this month is "LEALDADE OU MORTE" which, being interpreted means "LOYALTY OR DEATH!" which is meaning "Loyalty to the Lord, or DEATH!" with the baptismal logo in front of the skull. hah. On the right pectoral is says MISSÃO BRASIL CURITIBA brazil curitiba mission and then on the right sleeve it says " Sempre Curitiba" or always curitiba. on the back says São Boqueirão (the name of our zone) and all of our names. it´s super awesome!
Well, I sure do love you all! The church is true!!! the Book of Mormon is true too! Joseph Smith was a prophet! Praise to the Man! Jesus Christ lives!!!!! He is our Savior! Don´t Stop Believing!
LEALDADE OU MORTE!!!!!!
Com Amor,
Elder Askins!
p.s. it´s FREEZING HERE!!! Soak up the sun and love it!!!