Hey Mom and Dad and Everyone!!!

Sorry my last emails have been shorter.  Things have been a bit rushed, but they are starting to cool down.  This week, was a bit more chill.  There was just one really bad party and the rest was back to normal.  I hope that it stays that way haha.  Oh, PS I havent gotten the package yet, my LD is going to the mission office today and should bring it back with him.  So excited!!

We had mission counsel and zone training this week.  It was really great to go to the counsel to receive all the new information, do some practices, and then pass it all for our zone in the training the next day.  I think mission counsel has got to be one of my favorite days of the month.  I always leave the chapel feeling super confident and excited for the upcoming month.  :D  During the counsel, Sister Lima nagged us again that we need to drink 4-5 liters of liquid each day.  That is a ton of liquid!!  I decided to give it a try.  I think by lunchtime I had dranken like 3 liters.  Ten minutes later, we had to run to a nearby member´s house to go... haha.  We checked up on them and then were on the way to an appointment and I had to go again haha.  Rio de Janeiro is a great place, but they have next to zero public bathrooms.  We werent near any members, but we just happened to pass one of the only gas stations in our area.  I ran inside and used the bathroom.  When I cam out, there was one of our pesquisadoras- Yolanda crossing the street.  She was over in Santa Cruz in the hospital with her son (he will have surgery today) and was just running home to grab some stuff and then was going to grab a bus back.  We were able to talk to her.  She is reading a lot of the Book of Mormon at the hospital and she is really liking it.  We asked her if she had prayed to God to ask if it is true.  She looked at us and said *It couldnt be anything but true.*  We asked her if she had prayed to ask God if Joseph Smith really was a prophet and if this is the church that Christ has established on the earth.  She replied that she had.  *Did he answer you?*  She looked at us as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and said, *Yes!  I want to be baptized.*  hahaha.  She is going to finally get to go to church this next Sunday- her son should be out of the hospital, and we are going to help her on her way to get baptized.  I am completely convinced that the reason why God let us talk to her was because we were being obedient to the cousels of the Sister and drinking a ton of water.  

Later that day, we were passing through Bento Ribeiro doing some contacts and we were just getting ready to leave and go to a new appointment.  As we were walking, I felt that we really needed to visit a family that was coming back to the church.  It is a humble, elderly couple.  We got there, and entered in the alley.  We called the name of the husband, and the wife looked out the second story window and motioned to us to come in quickly.  We ran up the stairs to see what was happening.  The husband was on his bed grimacing in pain.  He has a problem in his lower region that gives him searing pain and the doctors have been stumped in trying to find out what it is.  They just give him a really strong pain pill to numb out the pain a little.  We got there and his medicine had run out and they hadnt been able to buy any because of Carnaval.  He saw us and, muttered out the words, *Benção...saude...*  We dropped our things on the ground and gave him a blessing of health.  As we said amen, he was already calmer, and we ran out and got everything set up at the pharmacy for his medicine.  I am really grateful that I was able to pay attention to the Spirit enough to be able to help this brother out.  

I am really happy to be here in this area.  Im sure that this is the area that has been the most difficult, but also, the area that I have grown the most.  It has given me the understanding that the scripture that says, *Many are called but few are chosen* was definitely inspired by God.  The only thing that makes the difference between those who are called and those who are chosen, is our willingness to hear and obey the call.

Love you all!!!

Elder Stinnett