Tribute to Papa

I encountered some interesting souls this past week. We were teaching a lady and it was more like she was talking about the bible for 2 hours. We tried to bop out of there by ending with a prayer, but after my comp said amen, she said "and continuing onto that", and then decided to go on with that prayer for 10 more minutes. Then later that day, we were teaching a couple and her dad came in. He started going off about how "Santa Maria is water, and John the Baptist is earth". Anyhow, we basically cut all of our investigators this week and will be starting anew this next week. So to me, all last week is scrapped and this week will be 20x better and more successful.

Last year on October 22 my grandpa passed away unexpectedly. So, this year in memory of him, our family released into the heavens white balloons with a message. I was all set up to do this in a special way. I was going to release it exactly at 6 pm (the precise time my family back home was releasing it) while playing "You raise me up" by Josh Groban on my portable speaker and then video the whole thing. Well, we had some technical difficulties and didn't get the video recorded, but everything else was good.

We taught Maria Jose some of the new member discussions this week and we went to an activity at the church and played dominoes. I dominated!

unknown rash

Here's something crazy! On Saturday we were eating at a member's house and they served us shepard's pie. It was tasting really good and I was enjoying it immensely until I bit down on something hard. I looked and it was a HUMAN TOOTH!! (and it wasn't mine, I double checked). I lost my appetite after that.

1st Baptism!!!

There was a lot going on this week! On our way to teach Maria Jose, there was a blackout of the entire neighborhood. It was kind of sketchy getting around all the cars in the dark and we had to teach Maria Jose using a candle for light.

I bought myself a very stylish hat that will help keep the sun off of me. It even has a flap in the back to protect my neck! It's sick! I also got some Patriot socks from the Hunters!

I did splits with Elder Welch (zone leader) and he has a lot of success and is super obedient. He inspires me and I have recommitted to be exactly obedient. While we were working in his area, we came across a girl on the sidewalk that was crying. As I passed her I realized it was Eliza, a girl that we are teaching in my area. We asked her what was wrong and she explains that some strange woman tried to take her!! What?!! She was almost kidnapped?! We let her borrow our phone and she called her dad. Crazy! We ended up teaching her dad later in the week and he called us "angels" to his daughter.

We had zone conference and there was some great teaching. We did an activity and it turns out that I'm the fastest kid in the entire Brazil Teresina mission, probably all of southern Brazil, I don't know. 

While we were teaching someone in their home, we saw on the news that there is oil coming up onshore. Not sure what that is all about. I hit the 3 month mark in my mission on the 17th and the next day I had my first baptism!

I baptized Maria Jose Pereda dos Santos. As I was baptizing her, her hand let go of my arm and it starting coming up. I used my hand that was on her back to push it (and her) down. There I was, pushing her down with both hands. I held her underwater for about 5 seconds, which seems like forever, and then pulled her up. So I almost killed my first baptism. Hahaha. We confirmed her in church on Sunday! It was so cool!!

  As you can see, their English is not that strong here.

It rained really hard again. Lots of lightning! I'm not sure you can see in these photos but there is a lot of rain in the entryway to our home.

Teaching Like Jesus

On Pday we went to Centro and I bought a hat. We can wear hats in our mission as long as they are plain, conservative, no logos, etc. It is so nice not having the sun directly on my face. At my planning session with my comp, I was not the most reverent and was kind of rowdy so my companion called me to repentance. He was right and so afterwards I began a fast for revelation. I refused to speak, sing, or even think in English as I sought for this guidance and inspiration. I received my revelation the next day. It came as the voice of Papa in my head (which is how I asked for it to come). He told me that I'm only a missionary for 2 years and that I need to be in "missionary mode" and not "kid mode". It's all about having the spirit and that I need to strive to always have it. He also told me that he would always be here for me but that I need to remember that if I need help, to ask God and not Papa for it. I needed that. Quite the "wake up call"!

We taught Amanda on Wednesday. She has a parrot. It keeps biting me when I try to pet it. Dang it. I did teach it to say "papagaio" (which is "parrot" in Portuguese).

Cool trees

Thursday we taught Socohino. She is not really progressing but as we taught her, her mother was listening and is interested. Her name is Socoho. We were teaching outside the house. I felt like a true missionary when I was speaking because some people came over and then more people would join in to hear me speak and they sat at my feet like Jesus! So cool!! We also taught Maria a bit later. We got a bunch of datas (baptismal dates) this week, but we only have two that are really progressing.

Friday there was a church activity and afterwards we were able to take some shot on goal with the soccer ball. We had a little contest to see who would be the first to hit the crossbar. I did not win. [Side note: a lot of people here shoot fireworks off all day long but they don't have colors. Its like a mortar, and there is just four big bangs when its in the air.] I got home and noticed that my sunburn on my face looks like a mustache - weird.

Saturday I had the walk of death and my legs were destroyed. My comp gave a baptismal interview to an investigator for the sister missionaries. We taught Maria again. Maria is the old lady that lives right next to the church. I've given two blessings to her. She sells beer from her house and smokes and likes coffee. We got her a coffee substitute and she likes it. I think she will be my first baptism! We walked everywhere, so far!

Sunday after church we taught Socoho. Socoho is an old lady but is eager to learn. She suggested that she be baptized before we even invited her to be! Afterwards we went out contacting and ended up getting 42 contacts! I also had my first bible bash and I destroyed this boy. He got his info from the internet and hasn't read anything for himself. I pulled out James 1:5 and told him to pray!

There was a fire started in town. I guess it was started by someone flicking a cigarette. That's it for this week. Tchau!

General Conference!

Greetings!! I gave my second blessing in Portuguese. It was for a sister in our ward. Last time in the blessing I anointed and this time I was the voice. I was definitely nervous. On our way home that day from proselyting we ran into a brother from the church who drives a taxi for a living. We chatted a while and then he gave us a free ride home. I was so happy! I was tired and wasn't looking forward to the long walk home.

 Why did the chicken cross the road?

We taught Maria a lesson, which went well, and then started walking home. It began to rain quite hard so we sought refuge and waited for the rain to subside. While we were waiting, we got a new investigator!

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. It was FANTASTIC!! I was looking forward to it so much! I got to listen to it in English! There was a member at the church that had some headphones for me to use. There was a delay of about 30 seconds but it was lit! On the Saturday before transfers we find out who will be leaving, so that they can pack and be ready. We found out that we will both be staying together. Sunday after we got home from General Conference, our water was off again. Oh well.