So I'm still here with three companions. Elder Dantas, the missionary who had surgery on his knee, is getting a little bit better, but we're worried that he just wont get better enough soon enough for him to be able to go back into the field. We'll see how it goes, though. He has two more weeks to be able to be on his feet and moving. Every third day I stay home with him (we rotated days) at night while the others two go to the area to work, and during the day he stays in the office and... doesn't do much.
I had an interesting experience this week. I noticed that in my prayers I always asked for "everything to go well," and then I stopped one night and remembered something that someone had told me, I think it might've been Mom, to pray for all the problems to happen while Elder Anderson is still here to help me. And so I did that. And then the next day it just seemed like everything went wrong, and I learned more about being independent and taking care of problems on that day than I had on any other day since I've been here.
Tuesday was President's birthday, and at night we went to his house for a litle cake and ice cream. The Assistents got him a really cool picture of Captain Moroni engraved/burned into a big piece of cork. We got him.... lame cards that we made. But it was fun anyway.
Nothing really exciting has happened unfortunately.
So, until next week,
Elder Sisco

Last night President Frei officially signed the mission over to me, and so I am now the Financial Secretary of the Belo Horizonte Mission. Elder Anderson will still be here in the office though for three more weeks to be able to help me out if I need anything.
The work in the area is going well. We're getting a lot of good references from our recent converts.
On Monday we taught her next door neighbor and the ladies family the first lesson, and invited them to pray about it and everything. Then two days later we found out that the lady had gone on the internet, looked up "Mormons" and printed out a bunch of Anti-Mormon crap and sent it to Bahia, which she threw away (yes!). I don't think we'll be going back there. We asked her to pray and ask God, and not look up trash on the internet.
That's all the news I have for this week, so, until next week!
-Elder Sisco

Last Friday, I woke up and I was hideous. Even today, I don't know what happened. It could have been something I ate. President Frei thought it was probably something I touched. I really just don't know. But my face swelled up a little bit and had this horrible, itchy rash all over from my chin to even my eyelids. It itched like crazy! I wanted to die. I bought some things to help it on Sunday (sinner!) and on Monday it started getting better and now I'm fine.
It was unfortunate though that I had to go to conference like that and see a bunch of people from my old area (same stake) and then we had a baptism on Sunday night. I will always remember the baptism with the itchy, ugly face. I'll try to send pictures, but I don't know if you'll be able to tell.
The baptism was of Bahia and her two twin sons, Isac and Isan. It was one of the best I've ever seen.
Aside from the itchy face, conference was fantastic. I got to see the Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon sessions. I really like Jeffery R. Holland. His talks are always very powerful, and he talks with a lot of force. It's like he's forcing us to feel the Spirit when he speaks. And it's always good to hear the Prophet speak and have that confirmation that, yes, he is a true prophet of God.
After the baptism on Sunday, a woman that Elder Alfaro and I baptized in my third transfer (Monica, if you remember her, I don't know) came up to me (first of all, it was exciting just to see her going to church still) and said that she was getting ready to go to the temple to do baptisms. It was so awesome. I'm so excited that she's still firm and that she's progressing.
I'm no longer in a trio, I think I mentioned before. We have an injured Elder who will be staying with us, probably until the end of the transfer. He had to have surgery on his knee, and he'll be on crutches for a little while, so he's recuperating in the office and in our house for a while. Since there are four of us, we rotate taking turns staying at home with him at night, while the other two go to the area. It's a good opportunity to study more. I kind of enjoy it. I think I'm the first missionary ever to have three companions.
I've been in the office now for almost four weeks, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Soon I will be in charge. I really am grateful for this experience that I'm having. It's great preparation for a job in the future. (Or to manage my touring band. Either one.)
Love,
Elder Sisco

Here's a picture from the baptism last Saturday.

So things are going well.
We're teaching a great family. The mom's name is Bahia. She's in her 60's, and all of her kids are adopted. Her and two of her adopted (twin) sons are going to be interviewed tonight and baptized on Sunday. So, the work here (proselyting-wise) is progressing. It's a lot better than I expected coming into the office.
Bahia has so many adopted kids that I don't even know all of them. It's hard to keep track. She also has a parrot, a cat, and like, 5 dogs. They just got a new dog two days ago- a little Terrier- and named it Sisquinho (little Sisco). It was a deep honor. I'll try and get a picture of Sisquinho and me to send home.
This week I lost a pair of pants. I'm not really sure how it happened. I remember that they were dirty, and it was late and dark, and so I threw them into a corner somewhere. My concern is that the window stays open 100% of the time and that it's very possible that I threw a pair of pants out the 18th story window.
Things in the office are going smoothly. I'm starting to the the hang of things around here. In about a week, Elder Anderson will sign the mission over to me and I will officially become the new Financial Secretary.
It's a little nervewracking to work with such large sums of money that don't belong to me, but I'm getting more and more used to it. I just hope I don't get too lax. But it's better than at the beginning when I was practically too scared to do anything.
Anyway, that's all that's going on around here. Hopefully next week I'll have some more exciting news.
Love and miss you all,
Elder Sisco


This first one is the last baptism I had before I left my last area, Nacional. Her name is Fernanda, and she's this guy's girlfriend. He baptized her. That's Elder Tolotti, my favorite companion to date.


This next one is my last district before coming to the office: Elder Frost (from my group, we were in the CTM together), Elder Tolotti, Elder Tiago and Me.


And a sweet picture of a tiger drinking water (you can see the drops of water coming off of his tongue!) at the zoo.

So just last week I was in my area, Nacional. I had been there for almost one month. We had baptized five people already, and had just started a big weekly branch activity. The work was catching fire there. The members were excited, my companion was the man, we were living in the best house in the mission with two other excellent missionaries. It was going so well in fact that in my interview with President Frei that he has with every missionary each transfer I specifically asked to stay in my area with my companion for the next transfer.
But that all ended on Saturday morning while I was in the shower. Elder Tolotti knocked on the door shouting "it's President!" I got out of the shower to talk to him. I don't remember exactly, but he said something along the lines of, "I know you want to stay in your area, but unfortunately that's just not going to happen." I remember him citing that hymn "I'll go where you want me to go" or whatever it's called. He told me to get my bags packed because the following day he would be passing by the house to pick me up to bring me to my new area, where I would be serving as the Financial Secretary of the mission. Granted, I was a little surprised.
"Me? A music major? Financial Secretary? Are you serious?"
But, as promised, on Sunday afternoon after church he passed by and he and I drove back to his house where I sat around and hung out with him and Sister Frei until the current Secretaries could pass by to pick me up.
So, I'm back in the center of Belo Horizonte, living in the Staff House- the very same house that I spent the last 4 1/2 months of my mission in, only this time I'm here as the Financial Secretary in training. We're in a trio now (Elder Anderson, the current FS, Elder Rodrigo, the Executive Secretary, and me), and will stay until the end of next transfer (six weeks). In about three weeks Elder Anderson will officially sign the mission over to me, and he will no longer be in charge- but will stick around for a while just to make sure the transition goes smoothly.
Here are some perks to the job:
- My office is next door to President's; I see and work with him every day
- I'm in the center of Belo Horizonte
- Learning stuff that will be beneficial in the future
- Christmas here with President and the Staff will be infinitely better than if I was anywhere else in the mission (last year they had T-Bone steaks. I don't even think those exist here)
- I have a sweet flip phone and no more "80 Minutes a month business"
- I get mail the day it shows up at the office and don't have to wait for large group meetings to get letters
- Our area is doing very well at the moment; I came at a good time

And some downsides:
- My PDay is now on Thursday, unlike everyone else in the mission whose PDay is Wednesday
- The secretaries haven't had a real, full PDay in 7 weeks. Something always happens that needs to be tended to. Even today, my first PDay, I spent here in the office (that's why it took me so long to finish this email, I've been running all over the place getting stuff ready for transfers next week and writing when I have a chance)
- The Financial Secretary usually stays in the office for six to eight months, but since there will be a change of mission presidents in July, it's very possible that I'll be here for a long, long time
- Dealing with the Lord's money is scary business.
So that's the news. It's pretty good, I think. I was really sad to leave my awesome companion and awesome area, but it's okay. It's going to be cool working here.
The picture is of Elder Rodrigo and I at the Hard Rock Cafe. We went there this morning before everything in the office got all hectic and we had to work. It was probably the trunkiest thing I've done on the mission so far. There was a band setting up and practicing for a show that's going to happen there tonight.
I wrote this all very hurriedly, I hope it's comprehendable.
Love,
Elder Sisco

Last PDay a bunch of missionaries from our zone went to the center to play soccer on this indoor court near the LZ's house. It was awesome, we played for like two hours, and everything was dandy, except that I wasn't aware of how painful turf actually is when you slide on it. It seemed really soft walking on it, but when I slid to try and keep Elder Tolotti from scoring, I'm pretty sure I left the other half of my leg on the ground. Taking a shower in the days following was brutal, and it's still all scabbed up and nasty. I have pictures, but out of respect for Mom, I will refrain from sending them. On the plus side, Tolotti didn't score.
After the game we went to get the bus home and ended up waiting at the bus stop for over an hour. Every bus that passed going back to our area was packed with people. Literally, so packed that there were people smushed up against the doors and windows like human sardines. I was surprised they didn't pop out.
Eventually a white VW Van passed by and the guys called for anyone going to Bairro Nacional (our area), so we got in. Then more people got in behind us. Then more still until they could fit no more. We were no better off than the sardines on the buses, except it had more of a "Mexican-fleeing-to-the-

border" feel to it.
On Saturday night, we saw the first torrential downpour that this town has seen in several months. And of course, when it rains, it RAINS. We were lucky enough to be waiting in the church for a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader when it happened, so we just waited it out there. Elder Frost and Elder Tiago however, were not so lucky. They got stuck in the rain, which was so hard that it destroyed both of the umbrellas that they had and ruined all of their books, scriptures, DVDs, other teaching materials... They went straight home to dry off, and when they got there saw that the wind had blown all of Elder Tolotti's clothes that he had left out to dry that morning off of the line and into the street, our neighbors yard, etc. so we had to go home and gather them up.
Some of his clothes had been blown into a corner of the little walkway we have outside (we live on the third floor), blocking the drainage pipe and causing this sort of dirty rain water pool effect (pictures included).
And of course the highlight of the week was walking down the street conversing normally with Elder Tolotti, him stopping suddenly and with fear in his eyes saying "I had a brown day." Meaning that we had to go back to the house so that he could take a shower and get cleaned up. Luckily, this hasn't happened to me yet. I figure if I can make it nine months without a problem, what's 15 more? Keep those prayers going.
We're teaching the girlfriend of this kid in our ward, whose name is Fernanda. She's only 15 but she's really receptive, and has already been to church a bunch of times. She should be baptized this Sunday after Stake Conference.
Last night we met her dad, who is Buddhist. I think he's the first non-Christian that I've met in this country. We talked to him for about half an hour about Buddhism, but he's only been Buddhist for four years so he didn't know much about the history or origins. He did know his daily prayers, though and recites them quite well.
That's all for this week.
Love and miss you all,
Elder Sisco


The pictures are of Elder Tolotti (my companion) pulling his clothes out of the pool of water on our walkway, and Elder Tiago (Frost's companion, who also happens to be the son [as in, was trained by] Elder Franklin), using one of the destroyed umbrellas to fill up the tanquina to do laundry(we've graduated from using the two blender jugs. This way seems to be more efficient).

So, we had four baptisms this week (photo included!). It was an amazing Baptsimal Service as well. The daughter of the first counselor in the branch and her three children were all baptized.
I think I mentioned before that our chapel is a rented house (much like the Damariscotta Branch library/mobius situation, many years ago). We just don't have enough attendance yet to be a ward and have our own chapel. So things sometimes are a little tight. For example, this week I left to go to the bathroom in the middle of Gospel Principles; what I didn't know was that to use the Men's bathroom you have to interrupt the Young Women's class by walking through the classroom and into the bathroom. Demerits for whoever decided to put the Men's bathroom in the corner of the Young Women's classroom.
This week we got a reference from Elder Tobias, the area authority in Belo Horizonte. We went there, and the lady was really nice and receptive. We went in and started talking and she told us the story about how she learned about the church. She was walking down the street thinking deeply about her alcoholic son, and then she looked up and saw a spire (that's what that thing on the church is called, right? maybe i mean steeple). In that moment, she said a prayer to God promising that if he helped her son with his addiction she would go to this church. The NEXT DAY her son came up to her and said something along the lines of, "man, I slept so well last night. And I had the weirdest dream... I woke up having absolutely no will to drink anymore."
So she went to the church on a friday night, not really knowing anything about it, but she just walked in and there happened to be an activity, and there happened to be Elder Tobias, a member of the quorum of the 70 there (funny how God works) and she talked to him for a long time and he explained a lot about the church and said that he would send missionaries to her house.
So there we were. Hearing this story, already preparing her baptism in our heads. So we taught her a little bit of the first lesson, and testified and the Spirit was amazingly strong there. And then I asked, "so, what do you think is something you might be able to do to know that these things are true?" and she responded, "my son, I'm catholic." (note: "my son" is a direct translation- it doesn't sound weird in portuguese, it's something everyone says) So at this point, I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. But we recovered and try to explain a little bit better. We testified more and the Spirit continued being incredibly strong. And yet, nothing. This woman's heart was completely closed and locked. She would not move. I told her clearly, "I know that what you've felt right now, and what you felt before is the Holy Ghost testifying to you of the truthfulness of these things. I know that Heavely Father responded to your prayer, and you're denying it." Finally she ended up standing up, opening the door and saying, "okay, well, I'll go ahead and visit your church someday if I have some free time." And that was it. It was impossible. I was so sad.
Oh well. We did our part.
'Til next week,
Elder Sisco

PICTURES:
The baptism we had this Saturday: Fatima, and her 2 sons and 1 daughter. She's the daughter of the first counselor of the branch, and so he baptized her and one son, and then her brother (his son the one with the beard, who is also a member, was the pioneer member of the family, went on a mission, came home and baptized his family, etc.) baptized the daughter and the other son. It was awesome.

I also took a picture of our shower, because I don't think you've ever seen it before. It heats up the water as it sprinkles down on you. So there's no such thing as water pressure or really hot water here.

Also, the tanquina- this new house unfortunately does not have a washing machine and I remembered that you had wanted to see our water box that swishes the clothes around. This one is broken, so if you don't turn it off, it goes forever. One time Elder Frost left it on overnight and when he woke up in the morning the water was so hot there was steam pouring off of it.

Also, I found these SUPER cheap strawberries at a market, so I bought a cheap cake and make strawberry shortcake.

I've been here one week in my new area, Nacional, and it's AMAZING. It's a lot like my first area in Sete Lagoas, just that we're way on the outskirts of Belo Horizonte. It's not ghetto like the last area, nor is it huge apartment buildings where no one lets you in, just a lot of humble people in normal houses.
We have four baptisms lined up for this Saturday: The 25 year old daughter of the first counselor in the branch, and her 3 children- two 13 year old boys (twins) and a 15 year old girl. So the work is going very well. My personal goal for this transfer is to baptize every week.
The branch is so supportive and willing to work, it's incredible. They want to grow! A lot of the members do visits with us, and even give references. References from members are gold!! They're the people who baptize!
The pictures are of me and this Zebra-Donkey (zonkey?) that we encountered while proselyting (the owner didn't want to be in the picture), me, Elder Tiago and Elder Tolotti (my companion, with the plunger that we had just bought for the new house) and a part of our area.
That's all for now,
Elder Sisco