Week 87 - Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

We’ve been teaching a very special couple for a while.  The husband said he would only be baptized when the missionary who started teaching him returned. [He completed his mission] He went to the temple grounds.  As he walked through the gardens, we talked.  It was wonderful.  He realized he just wanted to be baptized and it didn’t matter who did it.  He is so prepared.  His wife is ready too.  She wanted to be baptized a few Sundays ago, but that didn’t work out.  She said that she wanted to be baptized next Sunday.   She has longed for the day.  Sunday came and it was wonderful. – Jardim Sister Missionaries.

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Thank you to all that sent birthday wishes!!!  I had a great birthday lunch at the Mexican restaurant. Lunch was so good!  I also got the box mom sent.   I’m so excited!  I love the Oreo’s and shirts.

Hey, so I’m still volunteering at the English school.    I need to pick a topic to talk about this week.  I think I’m going to talk about Fall and the holidays Thanksgiving and Halloween.  I can bring in the pumpkin Oreos you sent me to share with the class.

The mission president just talked to me.   Depending on if I get accepted and what school I go to and when I would start, he would like me to extend my mission.  This would change my return from 15 March 2016 to 19 April 2016.

There is a lady in our congregation that is super special.   She is very poor.  She does indexing all day.   She has a goal to do 30,000 records by the end of the year.   She already has 19,000 and she just started in November.  She literally indexes ALL day.   She said she has felt the presence of many angels while she was indexing.   She may be financially poor, but she is spiritually rich.

We taught the man from Kenya!  He is scheduled to be baptized on December 6th.  He is way cool. He is really intelligent and well mannered.   He works as a behavior specialist in Africa.   He speaks English, Swahili, French and very little Portuguese.  He really likes the story of the Book of Mormon and is excited to read it.   It was the first time, I think, that I taught a lesson in English while on my mission.   Afterwards, we looked near his house in Kenya and found there is a chapel right down the street.

Week 86 - Spirituality sagging

I’ve been teaching at an English school. Tomorrow I’m doing a presentation.

I was at the hospital all day with Elder Nilson. He needed an IV.  The doctor brought this huge three-inch-long needle and stuck it in him.  I totally passed out. It wasn’t like there was blood or anything. That didn't cause me to pass out. When I woke up I watched the doctor take blood out of tons of people’s arms and I had no problem.  But, watching him stick that big sucker in Elder Nilson’s vein made me totally pass out.

OOOOO! WE FINALLY FOUND A MEXICAN BUFFET HERE.  I’ll be eating there for my birthday if everything goes as planned.  I talked with my friend Marcio today. I invited him to come with us tomorrow.  I hope he can go.

Mexican Restaurant Link

I took a couple of pictures today but then I realized that I didn’t have the card in the camera. So they are saved in the camera’s built in memory.  There isn’t a way to transfer them to the card. I wanted to show you my breakfast. A smoothie made with carrots, beats, oranges, and spinach.  It’s super good! Its funny because here in Brazil drinks like this are common! It’s not a diet or health thing.  It is just what people eat (or drink).

The yellow fruit is Passion Fruit or Maracuja in Portuguese.

I miss working with and teaching people in their homes or on the street each day.  It's wonderful when I'm given time with the mission president or his wife.  They're amazing. I absolutely love being around them.  They provide council and have great wisdom. Unfortunately, the majority of the time I’m doing administrative work.  I know the work needs to be done, but I feel my spirituality sagging.

We did meet this African man from Kenya at church. We are totally going to start teaching him!  I look forward to this.

One of the Sister's birthday celebration.

Week 85 - Put in an awkward situation

The week went well.  I stressed a lot in the beginning.  A couple situations popped up that neither Elder Williams or I knew how to respond to.  Eventually the area office took care of everything.

MAN preparing for transfers is a TON of work! A lot of work gets crammed into one day. It seems like I’ve been on the go non-stop the entire day.

Of coarse when I had Elder Williams to lean on, nothing weird or bad happened.  The second he leaves tons of problems popped up.  I’m dying.  I’m trying to get in touch with the area office about something REALLY important.  I hope they respond soon or an elder may be deported.

I went to an English school the other week and volunteered to help.  The worker’s jaws dropped. They were so shocked and super pumped to have an American come help them.  In their English coarse they actually have a part about religion so that works out perfect for us! 

We are teaching a man who may be baptized next week.  I don’t know what he will do for sure.  His life has been a little crazy lately. 

The mission president is really concerned about the missionaries.  New missionaries arrive that have heard our mission doesn’t always follow the rules and is disobedient.  It really bothers him.  There was a leadership council yesterday.  They talked about a lot of really good things.  I hope the missionaries soaked it up and are willing to implement changes.

I’ve been given my own dilemma.  One of the missionaries whom I admire a lot has put me in an awkward situation.  He is a good guy, but one of the mission rules is that you first obtain permission before seeing family in the area.  Without asking permission, he arranged for us to have lunch at a relative’s house.

Now if I ask and try to get permission, he will be upset and there will likely be contention between us.  We may not be granted permission which will cause more problems.  If we do nothing and go, we break a mission rule.  That isn’t a good option either.  It’s driving me insane.

Week 84 - Wishing for a home cooked meal

"One of the miracles we saw in our area was a sister who was given a dream of her baptism and the chapel where this would take place.  She searched daily for the chapel until she found ours.  We taught her and invited her to be baptized.  She agreed and then told us of her dream.  We know that the Lord prepares people for us (the missionaries).  It is wonderful to witness these miracles." -- Vila Virginia Sister Missionaries

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Its been raining every single day so the temperature isn’t bad.  These last few days its been in the 70’s. 

The good thing about the mission office is really getting to know the mission president.  I talk with him and ask him for advice.

I get to study a lot of apostles talks because I can get on lds.org and have some time to study.

We have to be in the office to answer phones so we can’t eat lunch at member’s houses.  We eat out everyday which in the beginning was cool but now I’m so tired of eating out.  I just want home cooked food.

For p-day we went to the discount mall.   We went to the bras and the 25.  I bought a 220 reis shirt for 45 reis at the 25.  We ran into some Americans shopping there. They probably will send you a text with a picture.  The mission president just got back from a mission presidents meeting in Recife.  It is a Brazilian missionary rule now that we can’t shop at the 25 anymore, so we were the last ones to go.  He didn’t say why, but it can be dangerous and is known for thieves.

Photo sent via text from the mall