{Sept 27, 2010}

Dear Family,
Everything here is going good. Well I had my son and I attached a picture of him and I. His name is Elder de Oliveira but his name is going to change to Elder Monteira I think because there is already an Elder de Oliveira. He is from Curitiba. It was so cool when I picked him up in Juazeiro. I was talking to him and he said something like, yeah yesterday when I was in the MTC, and it shocked me that the day before he was still in the MTC. I cant believe I am training, I am totally not prepared to mold a missionary, just yesterday I was being trained by my father Elder Carvalho. Well anyway it is kinda cool because he is already teaching like I teach, for good or for bad. Well one thing that happened this week was that we had family home evening at this one members house. We watched the movie the Testaments and then drank Mango Juice, which was delightful.
Some of the people we taught this week were Janielle, Francisco, and Fábio. Francisco was cool because we hadnt gone there all week and then on Saturday we decided to go and we taught about the Sabbath Day and he was like, sure I will go to church. He has a wife named Lena and a son Ericleiton. We found him because a youth talked with his son in school about the church so we went there to talk with his son, but found his parents too. I was just about to stop going there because we had been teaching them for like 3 or 4 weeks and they hadnt gone to church yet, but yesterday was a miracle because he went to church and we will work really hard with them this week.
Well I have to go already because I burnt a CD with a bunch of pictures for you guys.
Always remember to read the Book of Mormon everyday!

Um beijinho,
Elder Willoughby

{Sept 20, 2010}

Dear Family,
Well this transfer ended and one more is beginning. It is all going so fast. This week was good, we worked really hard. One thing that happened was that we had a small conference with President Batt. He only comes to this region like every 3 months so we said some things and we had interviews and then we all ate lunch in Juazeiro.
One cool story was about this one family. They were a referal from a member here. We went there and taught and the mom was like I was praying that someone would come to help my son and you guys are it. So cool!! But the sad part is that they didnt go to church and I am worried and like hope everything turns out alright. We marked a baptismal date with them and everything.
Inviting people to be baptized has to be my favorite thing to do. You cant be scared to do it but have to be really bold. Its cool because most of the time we mark a baptismal date in the 1st lesson and something to work toward. And if they read and pray and go to church then chances are that they will be baptized on that date.
So here are the transfers
Elder Nascimento- stays, will be companions with a young american
Elder A Mendonça- transfered to Benfica(my old area) to be Zone Leader
Elder Warn- transfered to Serrinha in Fortaleza
Elder Landskron- stays in Barbalha but changes to Elder Mendonça´s area
Elder Oliveira Santos- transfered to Ipanema (also my old area)
Elder Willoughby- STAYS and other exciting news
I am pregnant
I am going to have a baby and be a father. That is missionaryslang to say that I am going to train. So my baby boy will be delivered to me from the MTC on Wednesday. I DONT KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF BABIES. But I´ll be able to train a missionary. Pray for me.
I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and the most correct of any book!

Um abraço,Elder Willoughby

{Sept 13, 2010}

Dear Family,
How are the United States doing? My hope is that they are really good and you guys are having a blast there. I am still super well here in Barbalha. Today is already the last P-Day of the Transfer. Time here goes super fast. It flies. Let´s see what did we do this week. We worked really hard. On Setember 11 me and Elder Warn sang the national anthem and had a moment of silence to remember our country, which was really cool. One cool thing is that for the first time this ward has a Ward Mission Leader. So this week we had a meeting with him. So his name is Diego, a typical Brazilian name, and he is like 21 and preparing to serve a mission. He still has to wait like 8 months though to be able to have a year. One other cool thing is Jairo is helping us a lot. He is super active in the church. He is basically the man and all the missionaries think so. I am proud to have been able to find and teach such a cool man. He has just been a member for 1 month but he is preparing to serve a mission. I was thinking about how cool it would be if he left to serve a mission while I was still on my mission.
This week we were working really hard, preparing this one really great man for baptism, but Satan worked really hard to and it didnt work out. But one good thing is that last week the two people that were supposed to be confirmed didnt come (for more or less legitimate reasons) but this week they both came and were confirmed and received the gift of the holy ghost. Now if they endure to the end they will be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven!
There is this one guy named Luis who is the man and he took us on another hike today. He is the man and it was really awesome but I didnt bring my camera.Luis really has a big heart.
Well that is it for now but thank you for all your prayers!!

Elder Willoughby

{Sept 6, 2010}

Dear Family,

How is everything there? Can you believe I am a missionary with 8 months already? It´s weird, time goes by so fast here. So you guys are going to the fair huh? Thats cool. I remember last summer when I was forced to volunteer there, helping make Tiger Ears. Well anyway things are going super great here. Did you know that for the last two months The brasil fortaleza mission has been the highest baptizing mission in the world, and the highest baptizing ward/branch in this mission is barbalha? Pretty crazy, huh? I never thought I would be in the middle of the jungle preaching the gospel. But I´m not really in the middle of the jungle just so you know.

So this week, one cool thing that happened was that we had a zone conference. The president didnt make the long trip here but all 4 assistants came. It was like all day long. One thing that I felt during the conference that they talked about was reading the book of mormon with your investigators. so this week we did that a lot, especially with the people that we already baptized. It went really well. I really liked reading Enos with them and Mosiah 3 and 1 Nephi 3.

So the worst thing that happened was that I had an ingrown toenail. I actually had had it for like 2 weeks already so I finally decided to go to the doctor. It didnt hurt that much but it really was stupid because I had to stay in the house for a few days. But it is 100% already.

So today we had a Zone P-Day, so people played soccer, and stuff. So I am in Juazeiro do Norte right now. We also watched the movie Enchanted. It was funny because I remember the last time I watched it I was with Emily. This time I was with a bunch of 20 year old men. And another crazy thing, my old comp Elder Lopes´brother was there.

One really great family we found was Samara and Gilson. They are a pretty young couple (25ish) and are looking for a church. Yesterday we taught them the first lesson and it went really good. We are going back on Tuesday. One really great thing is that they arent married. Alright thats bad, but the great thing is that they were like, hey can you help people get married, it will show more trust in our relationship, and then we were like............yeah!!! So we have to pray a lot for them.

Also there is this man named Demi that we were preparing for baptism. But this past week we could never talk to him, partly because of my toe, partly because of other stuff. But anyway he didnt go to church but we are going to really work hard with him because he is a really good man.

Well thats about it! Remember to read the book of mormon everyday and pray everyday, and go to church, and help the missionaries. Which reminds me I was reading chapter 13 in preach my gospel and it had a suggestion that mom did, which was to invite someone to a special holiday lunch!

Um abraço e beijão

Elder Willoughby