December 2, 2013: Finding People to Teach

Ponta da Praia

My area is probably the richest area in Santos.  Which is really nice because its not terribly dangerous but the problem is that they aren't quite as humble or open as other areas. That's the reason we are having difficulties teaching; even the bishop admitted this to us.  Everything also here is super expensive, Mom wouldn't like it.  A Playstation 3 in the US is like 300 - 400 dollars brand new.  Here in Brasil, it would be 4000 reais or 2000 dollars.  It's nuts, and that's how it is with just about everything.

 The beach is beautiful.  The coast line is sweet because you can see all of the buildings and then the beach at the same time.

 We had a lunch with this member family and they have this boy that is 4 or 5. I think he is kind of a trouble maker kind of boy, but for some reason he was in love with me hahah.  At first, he was super shy but after awhile he started warming up to me and by the lesson he was giving me hugs and sitting on my lap during it.  It made me miss home a lot because right now we aren't coming in contact with many people and if we do it's just adults.  For him to give me a hug, ah I can't even tell you how much relief and joy that brought me.



Hahah Mom, I'd love to tell you more about who we're teaching, but that's the problem. We don't have anyone to teach. We do have 2 different people that we are teaching but they are turning into eternal investigators or "moles". They can only say sorry for not keeping commitments.  One man is probably 60 years old and is very religious.  His wife is also very religious.  We found him on the street and he let us come to his house to talk about religion.  He would be a perfect investigator except that his wife is the boss.  She is always sitting in our lessons and talking, but when we invite them to do something, she says she doesn't want to know or it's not for her, it's for him (her husband).  So she talks a lot during the lessons and then doesn't want our church; it's so frustrating.  We invited the husband to church on Sunday and he said he would be able to go, but the wife who wasn't in the room at the time came back in and said he's going to church with her. . . so we're praying for them.

 The other family is a reference we received from a member.  They are coworkers and that's nice when he comes with us.   The problem we are having with them is they can only meet on Monday nights and meeting only one time a week is hard to teach and prepare someone for baptism.  The other problem that you'll have in Brasil is that people will have kids and live together, but not be married.  This couple is in their 50s and have kids and are grandparents but they aren't married.  So talking about the law of chastity will be interesting.  We've only taught them once, but I'm praying that they will accept more visits.

Since we don't have a ton of people to teach, one of the duties of the missionary is to strengthen the ward and so we are finding the less active members  in our area and are trying to get them to come back to church!  We had two inactive members come back to church yesterday which was really cool. We will be meeting with them tomorrow too! 

Scriptures

I finshed the BOM for the 2nd time.  This time I'm looking for things of obedience and faithfulness while I'm reading. I dont have my scriptures with me but I think its 2 Nephi 1:26 maybe where Lehi is talking to Laman and Lemuel about Nephi and how they are murmuring, and they are mistaking his correction.  Just like in 1 Nephi 16:20 something how it talks about the guilty taketh the truth to be hard.  I'm trying to be more humble with everything I do and being patient because I think everyone needs some patience.

 It's good that you guys are talking about missionary work.  I think something that you guys could do as a family is think of someone that you could have over for dinner or family night because I have realized down here that the members are what makes everything work.  If they don't help us or give us references, it's a difficult time trying to find and teach.  I already know some people that I want to talk to back home about the gospel. Maybe tonight for family home evening, have everyone put down 5 names that come in their mind.  Then think about who you want to talk to or invite.  We're trying to do this with our ward, too.  I know it sounds weird but I have had this strong feeling that I need to talk to a certain person back home about the gospel.  I have had several dreams now where I have been talking with him about the gospel and then I see him in baptismal clothing coming up out of the water.  It makes me cry thinking that I might have missed the opportunity to talk to him, but I think Heavenly Father has a plan for me and him.  

Chocolate pizza. Brazilian pizza doesn't have tomato sauce.

For Thanksgiving, I tried getting some Americans together to have a feast on Thursday night when we got back but it didn't happen.  So I just ordered a chocolate banana pizza and ate it myself for Thanksgiving. hahah partay!  I did finally get to talk about football with someone, twas amazing, but it just made me miss football and sports in general.  I realized this past week that the only reason why I didn't have a big belly before was because of sports because I've got a little gut now. haha  I need to start doing some more abs in the mornings.

 

You know how I wanted to do something with exercise science? Well, after hearing the talk by Elder Holland and talking to people here I think I want to work with kids like Jarek.  They make me so happy.  I was with an older sister this week who's like the mom of our area. Her daughter was there and she works with these kids. She brought it up and immediately I just was talking and smiling. Then the sister said, "Well talking about this sure did make you happy" and it kind of hit me, that I think that's what I want to do.