June 22, 1015
I will be officially old when I turn 20 this week... :) Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone! :)

This week Presidente Parrela came and interviewed us. It was cool because I was reading in 3 Nephi about how Nephi approached the lord when the savior visited the Nephites and felt the spirit strongly. I am grateful that the lord lets us know when we are doing his will and how we can always do better. President told me that my plane ride home will be on September 29th, so it looks like I will get to serve 2 years and a still little bit more.

Also this week lots of the people that we invited to come to church came. It goes to show that the lord really is doing his work and helping his restored gospel fill the earth. We found some new people to teach doing contacts and also went to the cartório to help people get married. One of the coolest things we saw as well was that some of the members were doing their home teaching visits which made us super happy (new home teaching companions and route were assigned in the ward). We also taught Irmão Nilo and Irmã Gladecir about the plan of Salvation and some of the commandments. Com muitos sorrisos! :) Atentamente, Élder Vernon :)

June 14, 2015
Oi estou bem e come vocês estão? :)
This week was stake conference. Some of the stuff that was talked about in the meeting was how we need to live the small and simple things of the gospel like reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church every Sunday and that if we pay our tithing, have family home evenings, read the scriptures as a family and pray as a family that our families will be protected. We are doing a joint English/kung Fu class to find new people to teach. Élder Souza Silva teaches the kung Fu and this week there was 6 non-members that we invited to go to stake conference. I do not think any of them went but they all really liked the class and are getting to know a bit more about the church now.

Teaching Rinato´s family is going well because they all went to stake conference! :) This week we were talking with them about how they want Rinato to stay firm in the church (Rinato´s the only member in his family) so we taught about the plan of salvation and how the Lord wants us to do things as a family. We also read john 3:5 and talked about how reaching the celestial kingdom is more than just faith but also obedience and doing what the Lord asks of us.

We also had some good family home evenings; on Sunday we had a family home evening where we talked about the articles of faith and watched Elder L Tom Perry’s last conference talk-- I am grateful that the Lord inspires good people to lead us and teach us by the spirit. We are running back and forth to try and teach everybody about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ! :)

A little bit about Alegrete is that it is about 100,000 inhabitants and is a stake with 5 wards; however it is more like a district with 5 branches because the wards have about 20 to about 60 that go on Sunday. My ward is kind of funny because it has nearly all of the stake callings. Our apartment is good and we have a microwave and a gas oven and stove. Love ya family! :) Com muitos sorrisos! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Sincerely, Élder Vernon :)

Note from Tina. .Elder Vernon actually got his birthday package BEFORE his birthday. All mail takes about a month to get there and packages usually take longer but this one only took about 3 weeks! He always likes Flaming Hot Cheetohs, I think that is the food he misses most from the U.S.

Elder Cory Vernon's 20th Birthday is coming!