Dear Family,
We send our greetings from Belo Horizonte. We hope that you are all well.
The weather here has turned very warm; more than usual for Belo Horizonte. As of Sunday, we switched to the equivalent of daylight savings time, so we have moved ahead of all of you by one hour. In addition, there have been drought conditions in this region of Brasil. People here have been waiting for the rainy season to begin since September. São Paulo has reached a critical stage with its water supply. The situation is somewhat better in Belo Horizonte, but there are still temporary water shortages in various neighborhoods. Fires in the surrounding mountains have also reduced visibility. We were awakened Monday AM with a rain shower that at least lasted for a few minutes. We had a thunderstorm Monday evening. Maybe the rainy season has finally arrived.
Our busy schedule continues. While we are grateful for the bus system that allows us to visit neighborhoods in our three wards, we are especially grateful when we are offered rides. It feels like we gain back a short part of our life when we can go directly to our destination without a long wait at a bus stop. Nevertheless, improvements in the transportation implemented for the World Cup have made our lives much easier.
We continue to be blessed in our work here. We gave talks in Lagoa Ward on Sunday. We were grateful to see many people that we have been visiting in attendance. Each has their own challenges, but we know that the gospel will bless their lives. As we get to know the members in the three wards, we are starting to learn the various family connections.
Tuesday, we participated in a Mission Tour. Elder Antunes, of the Quorum of the Seventy, held a conference with all of the missionaries of our mission here in Belo Horizonte. Due to the numbers of missionaries and the distances that some have to travel; the conference was repeated on Wednesday for half of the mission. Tuesday night, three pairs of sister missionaries (2 Brazilian, 2 Peruvian, 1 Bolivian, 1 Argentine) from outlying areas arrived at our home to spend the night before going to the conference session on Wednesday.
We are seeing progress with our investigators and with the less active members that we are visiting. At times, it is a slow process as they make decisions and commitment to change their lives to follow the path that Christ has prepared. We often share 2 Nephi 31 from the Book of Mormon which describes the Doctrine of Christ.
For our preparation day Wednesday, we made a day trip to the city of Mariana. It is the oldest city in Minas Gerais and was one of the key towns in the gold mining region. We enjoyed a day of baroque art and architecture. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g303386-Mariana_State_of_Minas_Gerais-Vacations.html
We send our best wishes to all.
Love,
Dad/Cliff
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