There is nothing as sweet as a person that is converted by the Spirit.

Surprise!!!! I’m still here in Assis. Awesome...

I could have sworn that when I received my call it said that I was going to serve in the “Brazil Londrina Mission.” I think they should change it to “Brazil Assis Mission,” because I've been here and will continue to be here forever. I may indeed not ever get out of this place. My dear friend Elder Dunn who WAS our District Leader in Ourinhos, has left the coop and was transferred to my last area of Bauru, to be Zone Leader -- and I will be taking his place as district leader. I surely didn't see THAT coming. So what is a district leader? Well, he´s still a normal missionary, but has quite a bit more responsibility. First of all, he conducts the district meetings, so he has to plan out the trainings involved, the practices, all based on the necessities of the district. He also is the one that interviews the baptismal candidates of the other areas (in this case the areas of Ourinhos and Jacarezinho). And at the end of the week, he collects the numbers from the other areas, and passes them on to the zone leaders. He, if necessary, corrects any problems with the missionaries in the district. He motivates the missionaries to do better and to reach further, and sometimes if necessary, burns the heck out them if they are fubecas*(I’m not looking forward to doing that, but am completely prepared if necessary). So in conclusion, it should be an interesting experience.

On Wednesday night our dear friend Flavio prayed to know if the church was true and if he should join it. In response, he felt that it indeed is. Well, now it’s easy. There is nothing as sweet as a person that is converted by the Spirit. It makes my part SO much easier. I will admit that some of the people that I have baptized have not been converted completely by the Spirit. Namely, the family of Marlene, but for some people they just don’t need a spiritual confirmation, they just... believe. With Marlene, I invited her to be baptized, and scheduled a date and prepared her until the date, and if she was prepared she would be baptized. To be baptized, a person needs to have 3 things: desire; be keeping the commandments, and be willing to keep them throughout their life. If they have these 3 things, we CAN’T keep them from being baptized. The biggest part of conversion comes after baptism anyway.

So Flavio works on Saturdays, so we marked his baptism for last Sunday. Elder Morris did a great job of baptizing him.

As promised my top 10 most dearly missed foods:
1- French Toast
2- Dairy Queen Blizzards (namely Reeses peanut butter cups)
3- Salmon
4- Teriyaki (it is not found anywhere in this country!!!!)
5- Fettuccini alfredo (yes it is here, but after working at Cucina Fresca for 4 months, nothing comes close)
6- A good ole American burger
7- Real milk (it’s all boxed milk here that can last for a year on the shelf)
8- Cinnamon life cereal
9- Seedless watermelon
10- Pizza Hut (Brazilian pizza is common here, but it is my least favorite food. They just don’t know how it’s done.)

Next week I will not be doing regular missionary work at all. Monday we have a district meeting in Ourinhos, and then we will be going to Marilia to have a “Leadership Conference” with all the district leaders and zone leaders from Marilia, Bauru, Tupa and Presidente Prudente for 4 days with the Assistants and President Tavares. Saturday and Sunday is General Conference in Marilia. I’m not even sure if I will have a p-day next week.

That was a long blog. Take care, and good night!

Elder Titus

*a "fubeca" is a slacker.