The City of Gold

Ola!! Tudo bem na ciudade de ouro!

I have arrived to El Dorado. It is genuinely the city of gold. Definitely the richest place I've ever served in. We live in the nicest apartment in the mission... it has hot water and an elevator and an American washing machine.

Opening an area is truly the best experience ever. There was literally nothing here. No progressing people, empty carpeta. We are building El Dorado from the ground up. The first several days were mostly finding with an occasional lesson but by Saturday we were able to plan a full day of lessons and that felt good.

The ward has been so welcoming. They haven't had hermanas here ever. Since the ward became a ward, it has only been elders. All of the ward members are overjoyed that hermanas have finally arrived. They all want to feed us (that is not a joke, I ate way too much food this week), they all want us to come visit them, they all want to salir with us and help us teach the gospel. I got to speak in sacrament meeting, which was really good to start off good relationships with the members. I am so excited to be a part of this ward.

And God gave us true miracles! We went from having zero people we even knew to having three people we met this week come to church!

AND GUYS. My companion is from Brazil!! She's from Pernambuco. Her dad actually served in the same mission as my dad! What a small world. Hermana Fernandes is so awesome. She is the one of the kindest people I've ever met and she has such a strong testimony. She is not afraid to tell everyone what she believes and why and I love that. I love her pure desire to share the gospel and that it is not at all influenced by fear of what other people might think. It's been so much fun to get to know her this past week and it's actually unbelievaly fun to both be communicating in Spanish even though it's neither one of our first languages.

It's been so cool seeing how prepared this area is for missionaries. Missionaries haven't walked the streets Hermana Fernandes and I are now walking in years. And people notice. Tons of people are so pumped that missionaries are finally back. Lots of people are practically contacting us. Apparently there's a sister who's basically a member but hasn't gotten baptized because she's been waiting for hermanas to show up to be able to get taught. God is the one running this work. He is so good and I am so hyped that He put me here in El Dorado. Stay tuned for the baptisms 😉

Hermana Cazier 

Pics!

1. Streadbeck and I attempting to make a sad face about getting split up (we were laughing too hard to have success)

2. Got my Brazilian comp!

3+ she made me cuscuz and brought a bunch of snacks from Brazil for me to try