Elder CJ Rees

Literally, I cried when I read your letter today. I think because I love  the song, "Abide with Me Tis Even Tide" It's the first song I've been trying to memorize in Portuguese so its been awesome.  I'll never forget them singing that at my farewell - that was awesome... I love to hum and sing in Portuguese so I definitely will do that more. About my foot, I still have pain, so please keep the prayers coming.  For sure it's better, it doesn't hurt to walk as much, but running hurts.  Its really awesome because we live by the beach so every morning me and Elder Van Orden will do exercises right on the beach. The work in Beira is incredible!! We had 11 baptisms this week!!!!  Elder Van Orden's and my goal is 20 baptisms this transfer.  So, I think we will be able to achieve it!  There are a ton of people that come to church every week.  Pres Senna said in this area that there is such incredible growth, he wants all the people to have attend...

C raziest week ever!... Went to the hospital again because of my foot... Had a baptism.... Transfered to Beira... Had a very scary thing happen.... And I have a new companion... so ya, that's my week in total.  Hospital- So I have no clue what happened walking in the area.  I just had tons of pain on the top of my foot.  I  think because our area is only trails with all different levels, hills, rocks, and trees that maybe I just injured it.  I told Dad about it we discussed some options and steps to take.  My foot just started to swell and it still hurts to walk.  The Doctor gave me medication to take and gel to put on the swelling.  I still have no clue what it really is (thanks Mozambique doctors) but I'll survive.   Baptism- This kid is awesome, his name is Felix Hes.  He is 18 and just was a kid looking for something better in his life.  Its been awesome teaching him.  He was really open to learn and ...

T his week has been good, nothing crazy has happened.  Just the the normal.  We will have a baptism this week com certeza (for sure).  Ours this week fell through because our person, Tanya, left to Beira.  She will return next month so hopefully she wants to progress to Baptism at that time.  That was hard to see her leave.  We are still working hard every day to make it work to find people and teach the lessons we are supposed to.   I need lots of prayers for the people here.  We baptized a lady last week and before we confirmed her in church the following day we caught her drinking at a bar so we were not able to confirm her. This area is very different then Nacala.  Everyone drinks.  So now we have two major issues we are working to help the people understand and follow so they can be blessed.  Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. My Portuguese is doing so much better.  My companion is great and we speak it exclusively ...

I'm much better this week, my head doesn't hurt anymore, so ya tudo bem... estou tudo bem  This week has just been teaching and finding people.  Elder Jennings got sick on Saturday, so we stayed in the house.  This week the work was pretty tough.  We are teaching people and then they have been drinking.  It's so sad to see people so close and then they just drop it all for one drink or one sin. It breaks my heart and sometimes just makes me frustrated.  We had 4 people on date this week to be baptized and 3 drank this Friday and the other one just didn't come to church.   We had an awesome zone meeting about goals and we talked a lot about praying for the people to help them to be strong and keep their commitments.  That is something I really need to work on is praying better for our investigators.  Our goal this month ( of June ) is 4 baptisms and its totally possible but we just need to send out more commitments and be more firm with...