This week I got my new companion! Elder Barbosa. He is super awesome. Let me tell you guys a little bit about him.

E. Barbosa is from Olinda, Pernambuco, Brasil. He is short and funny. In his first transfer of the mission, he got hit by a semi-truck and miraculously lived. It's kind of a long story, but basically he was on the bus and the bus hit a pedestrian. And then his companion and another missionary on the bus went to give the pedestrian a blessing while E. Barbosa held a flashlight over the guy. After the blessing, a semi-truck came flying by and hit E. Barbosa, the pedestrian, and the bus. He doesn't remember anything after it happened, but apparently he flew 6 meters and the ambulance that was coming for the pedestrian was actually meant for him. He went to the hospital, recovered at home for a few months while his brain was re-constructing itself, and now is pretty much 100% healthy and has been back on the mission for over a year!

This week was really great. We were able to work a lot and we are seeing the blessings from it. We found a really good family and Tainã, who is the daughter of Jonas and Cleide, will be baptized in a couple of weeks! We are helping Jonas and Cleide to get married so they can be baptized too. Tainã is 22 years old and loves learning about the gospel. She accepted the invitation to prepare for baptism on our first visit and it has been amazing to see her progress ever since! She even brought a friend to church with her this week.

My testimony really grew this week when we got to church. These 12 weeks that I've been here the ward's attendance has been pretty low (always 100 or less), but this week 130 people came to church! 8 of which we are teaching as investigators! It was amazing to see. I hope that it's even better this next Sunday as we will have our ward conference.

Today we are cleaning out our house and re-organizing a ton so that this transfer we have a nice clean place to live. It should be great.

Have a great week you guys! I love you!

Elder Searle

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