I'm a Normal Missionary Now!

Alright so first off this past week I finished the 12 week in field missionary training program so I'm a normal missionary now! woohoo... So really I just get one less hour of study and I can't use the excuse that I'm a new missionary, haha. It was fun though because the last thing we had to do was watch the District 2 which is like reality TV for missionaries. So we made some pic poca (pop corn) and bundled up by our heater to watch it on our little portable DVD player that we have.

Oh yea and its getting cold here! It gets about 4 or 5 degrees Celsius at night and in the 10's during the day and it kind of tricks me out because hearing 4 or 5 degrees and I think below freezing but that's like 40 'ish degrees Fahrenheit (however you spell that) which I've gone through way worse but back home but I didn't have to walk for 30 minutes to get to the chapel and have the limited wardrobe we do now. But hey to make it better it still gets colder!... yay. And its weird too because I'm having memories of cold weather stuff and I know you guys are getting summer started so that's odd.

Alright so we have this eternal investigator named Ubirajara (Beer-uh-jar-uh I don't know why there's a U there it's not really pronounced at all) And he has been talking with the missionaries for about 4 years. I'm not sure if I wrote yall about him before but he is a super religious, super opinionated guy who loves his bible and to talk a lot so its kind of difficult to teach him most the time but we try. So I met him in the first weeks that I was here and he just had so many deep set doubts and problems to the point that I thought we were loosing our time. He likes the church and knows that baptism is important but for him it was so important and serious that he didn't want to feel pressed into making any decision at all and if we even talked about setting a date or goal with him he would totally shut us down. So we've gone through a cycle of him doing well to him not wanting to talk to us from him showing up at church the next day and its just kind of confusing. But really in the past week or so he has made some astounding progress. On Monday we got to his house and first off he gave me a tie as a present so that was super cool and then after he said "alright when's your next baptismal service?" and we were like "uhhhh, it could be this Saturday or the next, what do you think?" He was like "Lets make it this Saturday I'm ready to do this" so in my mind I'm like YEA WOOHOO!! but just trying to keep it cool  because I knew that there had to be more to the story.  As the world turns after his interview he still has some things to work out like a  more solid testimony of Joseph Smith but its just exciting to know he really wants to make some changes now. 

Anyway I love you all have fun starting summer! Thanks for all of your prayers and love sent my way!

Elder Pierce

ps. sorry for no pics I will repent and send some next week!