First Transfers!

 December 8, 2014

This week we were waiting anxiously for our transfer calls. it´s weird here because they let you know where youll be transferring to on Friday night, and you leave to arrive in your new area Monday or Tuesday. In NY you got a call Sunday night and arrive in your new area Tuesday. But our calls came, and I will be staying here in Birigui, while my Dad Elder Oelkers will be moving to an area called Perola, which is literally 3 blocks away haha he´ll be my Zone Leader, and will go to church in the same chapel as me on Sundays haha we were a little disappointed to be split up, but Im excited that Ill be getting a Brazilian companion! Im a little nervous because I still cant speak exactly directly here, but I knew that something had to change for me to keep learning faster and faster. I learned a ton from Elder Oelkers, but I think with a native speaker I will hopefully gain more confidence in speaking correctly with everybody. Right now I have confidence speaking with most people, mainly people I know, and I think if I can speak comfortably with a native speaker, Ill have confidence speaking with other native speakers also. Right now I dont have a clue on how to pronounce or spell my new compaion´s name. Hes from the Nordeste, or the Northeast part of Brazil, and generally the people there have thick accents haha we´ll see how it goes! look forward to an interesting email next week haha
 
  One cool miracle that I may have mentioned earlier, is that a family in our ward has a child named Ester, who accidentally swallowed a battery, and was experiencing soem serious problems the past month. Before the family knew she swallowed (sp?) a batterty, the family knew she was sick, but didnt exactly know what with. So they asked for a blessing from us for the daughter, who is18 months or so. We gave her a blessing, and after the blessing she started to get worse and worse. It was then that they took her to the emergency room, they got x rays, and found out that she had swallowed a battery. Because they found out quickly they were able to remove the battery and insert a feeding tube in her. Its a struggle for the family, theyll have surgery this week, and she cant put anything in her throat for 2 or 3 months, but she´s recovering. It was a cool miracle to see the power of the priesthood work in mysterious ways. If we hadnt given blessing and she hadnt worsened, who knows what would have happened. It was cool for elder Oelkers to see them for the last time, and see that the daughter is recovering. She has surgery this week, so prayers are always welcomed!

It was a great week, and we´re looking forward to another week of miracles, endless walking, and endless sunshine!-unless it´s raining really hard all day.....

Love,
Elder Hirschi