New Companion!

So I got my new companion on Wednesday and he is way cool. It was really tough to see my old companion go because he was such a good guy and a great missionary and he taught me a lot...but his 2 years were done and that's how it is. I got an email from him already saying that it was weird getting home but that things are good at home and he will probably even get married soon. Go Filipão! If you are reading this :).

But my new comp is way cool. His name is Elder Briggs and by the name you can deduce that he is American...my first American companion on the mission. Pretay crazy. We already knew each other pretty well because we have been in the same zone twice already. We both are missionaries that have spent most of our time in the "interior" part of the mission so we always saw each other at zone conf. and stuff. He's from Seattle and went to the U of Washington for a year before coming out here. He has 1 transfer less than me on the mission so he has about 1 year and almost 7 months on the mission.

He got here on Wednesday and Wednesday night we were already brainstorming for a couple of hours about ideas that we could implement in the mission to help the elders and sisters fulfill with their callings then on Thursday and Friday we were already out doing divisions. On Thursday we went to do a division with the Zone Leaders with the zone leaders of the office here in Zona São Paulo but it didn't really work out for various reasons.

It was one of the weirdest days ever actually. We went to study with them in the morning but then our lunch was moved to 5 o'clock in the afternoon (lunch?). We were going to go out and work with them until 5 but it ended up that the secretaries needed them to do some baptismal interviews at 1 o'clock so seeing as we don't have an area to work in and if the ZLs left then we wouldn't have anything to do, we offered to go do the baptismal interviews in their place so they could stay working in the area.

These four baptisms that the secretaries will have are some of the best baptisms I have yet to see on the mission. It was a reference from one of the members in their ward and what a reference it was. It is a full family that was completely prepared to hear the gospel. They live in a really nice apartment building in one of the richest areas in São Paulo. The dad has a factory where he makes a snack product called "banana chips" haha. The dad isn't even baptized yet and said "I want to get my factory working in such a way that I don't have to even work in order for me to dedicate 100% of my time to the church." They have two kids that are a little over 20 years old and they are awesome too. It was a privilage to do their interviews. They all passed and their baptism will be today at 5:00 and we will probably go.

It was a weird day because we ended up doing those interviews which weren't planned and they insisted on feeding us "lunch" at 3:30 pm. Then we left at about 4:15, got a bus back to the ZL area and got there at about 4:45pm...right in time to go to THEIR lunch at 5:00 haha. It was with an American couple that works in the temple here and it reminded me of my mother's Sunday dinner. Crockpot meat, potatoes, and carrots, dinner rolls, ketchup, etc. It was delicious. I even gave the lunch message in english. Then we left and it was almost time for my comp and I to leave to the next day's division in Jaçanã. So we went back to the office to do a couple things their, packed our bags, and then headed out for the 2 hour journey to Jaçanã. Strange day indeed.

The division yesterday in Jaçanã was good, but normal.

So how about General Conference né? It was awesome. My companion didn't have to worry about any investigators or anything at church so we just chilled out here in the office watching it in pajamas while eating hot dogs and ice cream throughout the day watching it on the internet. Way better than getting all ready and going to the church haha. The talks were truly awesome though and helped me a lot. Hope you all could enjoy them as well wherever you are.

My p-day was on Saturday this week but should go back to the normal Wednesday next week. Love you all!

-Elder Brent Parsons