Made Senior and Transferred

"Oi familia!

Well, your calculations were right, the next transfer should have occurred next week, but every year there's one transfer of 5 weeks, so the transfer happened yesterday.

I was transferred and made senior companion. I'm in a city a short distance from Campinas called Venhedo (pronounced "vehn-yeh-doh"). My comp is Elder Hancock from Dugway, Utah. He's a good guy, but it's going to be a very interesting transfer. We live with our zone leaders, so there's four of us and the house is SUPER tiny and our zone leaders, Elders Clark and Doogakushi are really cool. The area is excellent. I haven't met any members or taught many investigators yet, but the out going elder told me that all of the members help here and that it's a very blessed area. It certainly is the most well-off area I've seen in the mission yet. Elder Miranda said that it is one of the richest areas in the mission. That should be an interesting change.

Elder McEwen was transferred to Campinas and now is a zone leader! Nossa! Holy cow, I miss him, he was by far the best and we're sure we'll be good friends for life.

What happened two days ago was interesting. There is always a leadership meeting the day before the transfer, so Elder McEwen, being a district leader, thought maybe he needed to go, but the zone leaders told him no. Then, at 3 in the afternoon, the AP Elder Nascimento called and told him that we had to be in Campinas in one hour. Nossa! Good luck! So we ran to the bus station, missing one bus by only a minute and grabbed a bus to downtown Piracicaba to catch a bus to Campinas. We got there and we had missed the bus by 5 minutes so we bought tickets for the next bus. We called the assistants and told them that we would arrive in Campinas at the time the meeting ended and asked if we still needed to come. The Pres. came on the phone, told Elder McEwen that he was transferred and that I would stay in the area, extended the zone leader call to him and told him that he didn't need to come. So we got off the bus, walked to a different bus station and caught the wrong bus home. That bus took us around the perimeter of the city, passing through every single ward in Piracicaba except for ours. When it stopped, we caught a different bus to our zone leader's area and then caught a bus to our area. So, all in all, we lost 5 hours on the bus or waiting for it. I'm not complaining. I think it was really funny!! So we went home and packed his bags and were all set, then at 10:30 my zone leader called again and told me that I had just been transferred and that I should pack my bags. We did and went to bed at 1:30 am. That, too, I think is funny. We went to Campinas the next day at 7:00. I saw everyone! Elder Miranda goes home August 20. It was a good day and I am tired.

Elder McEwen and I set a goal and made plans for 20 baptisms in August or in this transfer, and we were all set to try and reach this month the Ammon Pattern of Excellence, so I kept it because we said, that even if we were transferred, we'd try for it together. Pray that we can do that. Elder Hancock has to improve in his teaching a lot, as do I, and we have to talk to a million people, but I'm excited.

I love you and am happy and excited. I know that the church is true and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Ate mais!

Elder Christian Larsen