Hello people i love. It was fun to hear about all of your thanksgivings. I did not even remember it was thanksgiving until late that night. Needless to say i was a little sad. BUT, i think i lived it a little bit vicariously through all of you. So thanks.
I cant lie.. It was a bit of a frustrating week here in Passo Fundo. One of those weeks where nothing goes to plan and everything kind of falls apart. People have kind of gotten into the idea here that ìts just the missionaries.´ And we had just about every apointment fall through this weekend. Did a LOT of walking.. and a lot of time wasting. But, we continue to make progress with Gilmar and Selete, We had to be realistic, they will not be married in time for our date. But we decided that we are still going to baptize the kids. We are trying to keep them motivated and animated, but like our other couples, they seem to want US to pull them up the hill. I think they think its the church´s obligation to pay and organize everything for them, and yeah it makes me a little bit annoyed.
Can i get some support from ex-missionaries (Adam, Dad, Brit..) on how much you HATE the palavra... (the word) You seriously know your screwed in a lesson when your teaching and the person is sitting there nodding their head and saying yes, yes, verdade (truth). Certainly. We have a very unique message. People should not just agree! We had a plethora of peole this week that we came to find loved our visits, yet wanted NOTHING to do with the church. And even got a little angry! WHAT DO THEY THINK WE ARE?? Two people coming here to sit and go RAW RAW GOD!! your awesome! Seriously, I am going to make a statement. The minute you tell me you are evangelic, is the minute i tell you you are an idiot. At least catholics believe in something...
Okay, that was a little harsh, and probably not very missionary-esque. But i lost some serious respect for evangelics this week. Moving on. I am SO big. Seriously people. My pants are starting not to fit, and my garments seriously hurt when i take them off cause they are so tight. Yeah, its bad. I weighed myself at 81.8 kilos. Not sure. Do the math.
Can i just have a okay he´s finally getting it moment. All the things that dad used to tell me are finally making sense. Few examples. Lunch a few days ago. UFC fight is on. Im getting so mad at myself cause im not enjoying it like i used to. im just thinking how can we feel the spirit when this guys head is spilling blood all over the guy thats beating the crap out of him. The kids at my baptism, walk in with their ipods plugged in, (seriuosly you cant take it out for 3 minutes?) then are TEXTING while we are having our service. I was so mad. i straight yelled at one kid to put it away. I never thought i would ACTUALLY change...
I hate dogs. So bad. Brasil has the WORST overpopulation problem. And they are everywhere. And they bark, and they bite. I hate them. We had lunch with a guy we simply call homem loco (the crazy man) who told us he had a revelation that he should not pay tithing, and that all the people who have ever opposed him have died. Oh yeah and that his papers say he´s brazilian, but his blood is american. And god made a mistake. he has american crap everywhere. he has 6 dogs. Go figure.
How is the Christmas season!! They have started putting up decorations in centro here. They are different.. but close enough to make me a little sad. Are you guys going to go to scrooge this year?? I love this time of year. Football... Christmas. That sucks about BYU.
Di, i think you were inspired with your glucosamine pills. Because although i dont think they help my knee, thats destined to alwasy just be an annoyance (JUST an annoyance di, please dont send me anything else to help.) i have started having some seriously painful hip issues. So, i decided what the heck, lets take some glucosamine. Big difference. the lord works through mothers. Look at the sons of helamann.
It was a rough week overall but we made some progress and as always had some spiritual experiences. The church here is very disorganized and child-like but its the same church that is true everywhere and poeople continue to recognize it. Its an incredible difficult but powerful calling being a missionary. Thanks for all of your support to help me through it. I love you, and i love this church. have a good week.
Hey, just wanted to say a little more on something ive been meaning to ask if youve heard anything about for the last 3 months. I heard a lot about this at the mtc. If you havent noticed there have been like NO americans getting calls to brazil.. As shown by the 11 americans that were there when i left. Apparently this has been a a big decision by the church. Something obama said has made it near impossible to get visas, and here they have made HUGE effrots to get 5 missionaries from every stake. They are going to start calling people from other south american countries.. (argentina, chile, per etc.) here and ONLY callig brazilians to brazil missions.
So.. what this means. it looks like my section or group whatever you want to call it. Will end up being the last REAL batch of americans called to brazil.. obvioulsy there will still be some. but you will never see it again like you did, where there were tons. Because its too hard to get here, and they are trying to become less reliant on north america. Kind of cool to think about.
Here are a couple more pictures. The dark ones are from when our power was cut, we couldnt make food, or take showers! So we had to be a little creative!
The ones of me running are after a triumphant lesson and me screaming EU AMO MINHA MISSÃO!!!
Lastly, Wanted to share i think what i found to be my 2nd favorite quote ever. By C.s. Lewis, so naturally dad will love it.
-There is a common misconception in the world today that people who have not succumbed to tempation do not know how strong it is. You find out how powerful the wind is by walking against it, NOT by laying down.
Is that powerful or what...
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