Itu

Transferred!!

Well it was a quick ride in Vila Madeiros. My Companion stayed behind and is training a new missionary. I got shipped back into the interior to a city called Itu. When I told people in São Paulo that I'd be coming here they all said "Everything is big there." My first day my companion showed me in the town square where they've got two GIANT telephones. I'll see what I can do to get some photos of them. The biggest thing here is the size of my area and the distance we walk every day, there was a few days it felt like I was on a hiking trip instead of a mission. 

Blessings

There were some sweet blessings this week. First of all we found a bunch of families this week. One has already visited the church several times and were already taught by the missionaries. They only weren't baptized because they weren't married and then lost contact with the missionaries when they moved to Itu. We found them when their son ran up and stopped us in the street and showed us his house so we could go visit them. 

The other major blessing is that our ward is the stake center and so for the first time since I left the US our church building has a BASKETBALL COURT!!! We're headed there as soon as we finish with the computer

Draught

So the other thing that everybody said when they heard I was going to Itu was "Wow, you're not going to have any water." Itu's been using the same water systems for 30 years and the expanding population and lack of rain this year are causing some major water problems. We have to pay a truck to bring water in every 15 days so we can shower and wash clothes haha. It's okay though, God promised that we won't go thirsty and don't have to worry about what we have to eat, drink or be clothed (D&C 84:80-84)

My companion is great. He's from Rio de Janeiro and he has a lot of experience as a missionary. He trained an elder from my MTC group and another elder from the group that I arrived with in Brazil so I'm stoked to learn a lot working with him. Plus he's almost as tall as I am so we're like two giants in this city.

Until next week, 

Elder Della-Piana