This past week miracles happened. At the beginning of the week, we had nothing going for us. No one being prepared for baptism, no one going to church, nothing. During the first half of the week, everything was really just so so. We didn’t have anyone making any progress, we didn’t have anyone to teach, and the members referrals were not as great as we had hoped. On Wednesday, after reading in first Nephi about all the miracles and things that had came to pass by Nephi’s fervent praying and faith, I decided that I needed to do the same. A few days before we had set up a little place in the house as our Sacred Grove, so I went to the Sacred Grove and started to pray. I spoke with Heavenly Father and told him about the things that we were doing and the things that we were needing. I sought guidance and more than anything asked for help, offering my ideas of what to do and waiting for a reply. It was a spiritual experience that I will remember for the rest of my mission and life. After that prayer, things really changed. Everything turned around completely. One of the recent converts brothers became really interested in the church, people that we had known for a long time just became interested in the message. What happened during the rest of the week really was miraculous and can’t be attributed to the amount or quality of work that we did. What happened was all God’s doing. I am grateful for the help that he is willing to give me. When I heard that I was going to be transferred to be the Zone Leader, I must admit that I was not excited. But then I realized that it was time for me to leave my comfort zone one more time and start over again. Change is never something fun to do. But as I have experienced on my mission, change is always for the best. The Lord is leading this work. He knows who needs to be in this area and he knows where I need to be so that I can learn new things from new people and challenges. When I arrived here in Campos, I wanted to leave it better than I found it. It was something I had hoped and prayed for. Now that I am leaving this area, I can really see that it has changed. There are people ready to be baptized, the ward is excited about the missionary work and loves the missionaries, the recent converts are good and happy. I am happy to see that I really am leaving Campos in better conditions than I found it. I know that all of this really only happened because of the Lord, I feel like I really didn’t do anything. Thanks for all your help and support, Elder Maier

The baptism these past week was a such a blessing from God. I know that we really had this baptism just because of our diligence and obedience. When I first arrived here in Campos, I visited this same woman, but I don’t think it was the right time because she didn’t accept our message. 2 weeks ago when Elder Ekstrom and I were walking on the road she stop us and said that she hasn’t seen us in a long time and that we should come and visit her. I didn’t think anything of it. During the week that we had to do 7 visits a day, it was about 7pm and we still needed a few visits so I decided to pass by her house just to get a first visit. We did a connection and taught her the restoration and about the BoM. I could tell she was different. The next day we came by and watched the Joseph Smith movie with her. As she watched it, I could she her understanding the simple gospel principles that it taught and that they really lined up with what she had learned and believed. She really was prepared. She really was just removed from the truth because she didn’t know where to find it. It was exactly like one of the miracle stories I have always heard. She really was just waiting. She has already read 1/2 of the Book of Mormon and can’t wait to start reading other books. This week was decent. We worked hard trying to find new people to keep our momentum. We found several people that seemed very good, almost even elect, unfortunately, Sunday rolled around and even after following up with people the day before, none of them went to church. So, we are back to square one, trying to find new people that are really being prepared to receive our message.

Elder Justin Maier Rua João Batista Parra, 633 Sala 1501 Enseada do Suá Vitória-ES-29050-330 Brazil

Monday, Fabiana, a young 18 woman, called us and told us that something had happened and that she wouldn’t be able to be baptized or go to church anymore. We asked to meet with her later that day. When we met with her she told us that her employer had said that she has to decided whether she wants be a member of the church or keep her job. Fabiana works as a nanny and lives in the house of her employer, so if she lost her job she would have to move out and back to live with her family in Nanuque, Minas. She still has a strong testimony and wants more than anything to continue to go to church and be baptized. She was devastated that her employer could even do such a thing. We had told her about a week ago that now that she knows the truth and believes it, the devil would throw everything he could at her to pull her away. He certainly did his job. We told her to pray a lot and if it felt right talk to her employer about the situation. I pray and hope that things will work out.