My new area

Hey Family! Well What a week. haha So Transfers happen every 6 weeks, but President doesn´t have a schedule for who leaves when.

So my new area is super different that the other ones I have had. Tijuca is more or less rich with lots of huge apartment buildings, lots of stores, and even a subway system and stuff. On the hills there are a bunch of favelas though, really poor areas that used to have lots of crime but are more or less better now. Look up the favela of Borel, supposedly it is famous and sits right next to our church. I live in a house with 4 missionaries in the area of Andaraí. We live 5 minutes from the stake center of Andaraí, but like 30 minutes from our chapel. My comp is pretty cool. He is actually a red head from Coalfaux? California, close to sacramento. He only has 5 months on the mission so he is still learning, but he is really dedicated. The other two that live with us are 2 Brazilians, that are pretty awesome. It is interesting to see how wealth has an affect of people accepting the gospel. In Saracuruna most of the people were pretty humble, and out of 20 street contacts we got 7 to 10 addresses. Here if we do 20 contacts we get maybe 1 or 2 if we are luckily. So this area we will have to work a lot with references and the members of the ward. Besides that the area is cool. Last week we ate at McDonalds for lunch and another day a member took us to a delicious pizza buffet because she didn´t know how to cook. 

So we have very few investigators and are working to get more. We just had one person that came to church, it was the friend of a member, which we are going to try and teach this week. Unfortunately most of the old investigators of this area live in Favelas, and President is telling us we shouldn´t work there very much now so we have lots of work to do. So yeah the Tijuca forest is in my area, and I am excited to visit that. There are no beaches in my area, Jardim Botanical is actually part of the AP´s area. My area here isn´t too big because so many people live in such a small area. 

So we don´t do District "Activities", but I have to arrange a district meeting once a week. But I liked those Ideas and will have to use some of them to get the ward excited. 

I hope you guys had an awesome time at California! Sounds like you guys had a bunch of awesome things planned, and you will have to send me stories and pictures. 

So Wow can you believe that conference!!!! 18 for young men and 19 for women! I am super excited about that!!! Think of all the opportunities it opens for people. Man it is awesome to think we will have more missionaries now. And the talks they had, amazing! I could talk for an entire day about the talks, but one I really loved was Jeffery R Holland, as usualrelated the apostles 3 years with Jesus with a missionaries 2 years on the mission. It really touched me and changed my way of thinking. I love conference!!!! I can´t believe at one point I thought it annoying to have to get up at 10 on Saturday.. wow. haha. 

Anyways I love you guys! And am constantly praying for you. It is interesting how my point of view, priorities, and everything has change. I am of course the same person, just that the mission helps you too see with spiritual eyes, hear with spiritual ears, and be overall more learned and experienced. 

Love, Elder Connor Ottosen