June 17, 2009

Traveling to Porto Seguro was pretty cool, I left about 6 30 in the morning and got here about 2 in the afternoon. It was a beautiful area we passed through, and with the weather being cooler and rainy in the heights where Vit. da Conquista resides, traveling to the hotter lowlands I got to see a good bit of misty topped hills, all in all very cool, I snagged some pics, though won’t know if they really came out yet. I’ll try to send some your way in a bit.

As of yet there’s not a whole lot of tourists though it seems they’ll get here in the next month or so. Not too excited about that to tell you the truth, but tudo bem.

Let’s see, had a great last week in the area in Conquista, I’m def. going to miss some good people there. Here in Porto Seguro there is only a branch, but I’m really excited to work here with Elder Schreiner, who is from Porto Alegre, looks like an American, and probably speaks better English then I do Portuguese. I met the president of the branch yesterday, or Monday actually, and he seems like a great leader for this branch, supports the missionary work and seems to care about the members. Yesterday we had a great experience with a partially less active family in the branch. A sister passed away early this week and we passed by to see if we could help, and to leave the message of the plan of Salvation if it seemed right. What a great experience it was, the spirit testified strongly to the family there and to me as well, of the truthfulness and the true comfort that we have in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, including the knowledge of what happens to after we die, where we were before we came to earth, and for those of us still here, why we are here. I know that the gospel was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, that our families can be sealed such that we can be together for time and all eternity if we but live faithfully to the sacred covenents we make in the temple, and I know that this is possible only by way of Our heavenly Father's love for us, in sending His only begotten son Jesus Christ, in whose sacred name I leave this testimony, Amém.

Elder Pettit