Transfer to BOM-JARDIM

Zone Conference with some snazzy T-shirts, just prior to transfers.

So this past week was relatively uneventful, just the usual appointments falling through and bible bashing people who can't ever open their ears and actually learn something. We worked really hard to invite as many people that we could to come to church, but NO ONE that we invited showed up. However, our recent convert V. showed up and she brought one of her friends! Her friend said that she wanted to learn more about the church and so we're going to pass by and talk with them sometime this week! 

Oh, well...... Not exactly.  

Sorry, I didn't have the time to finish the letter I started this week because I got transferred!!! My new area is Bom-Jardim! I guess that I wasn't working hard enough or the right way with my trainee, so Presidente Souza replaced me with someone else to finish the training for Elder N. I'm a little bit bummed... But I'm going to start this transfer from a fresh slate, and work even harder.  I'm planning on doing absolutely everything that I can to redeem myself for whatever reason that I had for not being able to train a missionary. My new companion's name is Elder Freeman. He's from Missouri, he's been out 4 months, and he seems pretty cool.  He actually likes to do exercises, so I think that I'll actually get more fit here! I will be senior companion, but in terms of numbers, he's already got a lot more experience than I do. I just got transferred a couple of hours ago, so I don't know a whole lot about our area. Unfortunately I do know that this area is even more dangerous than the last, so I won't be able to take very many pictures....

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about my whole transfer situation, but one thing is for sure, it's a new start for me. I am going to make sure that I start this transfer right, and that I am going to work harder than ever before. I don't know the area, I don't know the people, and I don't know my companion.  The only thing that I do know is that I am going to grow a lot in this area, and that I'm glad that my president sent me here so now I have yet another opportunity to grow even more. Really we should never be afraid of change in our lives, because through change, we can adapt, we can learn, we can continue to search for ourselves in all sorts of circumstances. Until next week!

~Elder Colvin

PS. Notes from research - "Bom Jardim (Good Garden) is a district of Fortaleza, capital of Ceará state. It is situated in the southwest of Fortaleza. It is the most populus district of Fortaleza with about 250,000 residents in five burroughs.  The Bom Jardim neighborhood has 37,758 residents over an area of ​​2.53 km ² .The area was originally settled in 1961 with rapid growth in the 70-80's. The name of the city arose because "the ladies of leisure" who provided all kinds of services on site, were treated by customers as flowers and roses, and that was a "good garden".  With unbridled growth, the slums emerged. Few schools, no hospitals, lack of sanitation and poor security led to violence throughout the district. Most neighborhood streets are dirty and there are many points of garbage disposal in the open. Streams are also used for disposal of sewage. From the late 90's the neighborhood appears in the newspapers as one of the most violent of capital.  Undoubtedly, the greatest challenge of Bom Jardim neighborhood is defeating the epidemic of violence.  The high incidence of crime is directly related to the trafficking of drugs existing in the region.   Government actions are promised but no concrete results are seen, leading to high mortality rates among young people."

HMMMMM, maybe ignorance is bliss....! (Brenda)