Hello Family
I had a very interesting week. It was filled with a lot of ups and downs. We kind of got pushed down, kicked, spit on, then curb stomped with our baptismal goal... But these are the kind of weeks that show you what you are made of!! I will try to give you a little rundown...
Tuesday after P day started the difficulties. We visited Luis to make sure everything was good for his baptism, and the first thing he said was FUMEI DOIS!! (I smoked two) I was trying hard not to laugh actually as we explained its okay, lets try again!! Não, vou desistir! (No, I will give up) So after much trying to encourage him it was clear the Luis story will just get weirder. He will be back i have NO doubt but strange old Luis will not be this transfer. Very sad. But then we stopped by Alex and Giselle, and they brightened our spirits a little.. They are such champs.
Wednesday was interesting. We started out excited to finally meet the flakiest couple ever at the cartorio to mark a marriage date! These guys are flaky as they come, and i have a lot of fear that he is cheating on her. So naturally, after PROMISING he would be there, he doesnt show up, without a text or a call. He sends me like 10 texts a day calling me Denzel Washington but cant send a text saying i wont be there? I was so mad. Turns out ODDLY enough EVERYONE else at his work received their money but NOT HIM! Hmm.. Isnt that the strangest thing. Ugh. But that wasn´t the end. After lunch we are walking on the road, and i hear a one of the million dogs a day that barks at me.. Except this one didn't stop. Ever. right up until he was tearing at my flesh... Okay that's an exaggeration, but he did bite me. And it HURT! So long story short.. After arguing with first my comp, then my zone leader, then Sister Pavan, we went to the hospital. Brazilian emergency rooms-scary. Wow. So after three hours of waiting (Its cause i was American! I was dying of Rabies! That's WAY more serious that a gunshot...) but yeah i was finally admitted and cured of my Rabies.
Thursday I was re-united with my good buddy Elder Harker that i cant seem to get rid of. I did a division out in Erechim. But not before getting a plethora of letters and 2 packages (THANK YOU) and finding a DELICIOUS new greek food place to eat at. I am getting SO much less picky.. Division was much better this time. He still didn't say a word in his area, but i was comfortable. Cant believe that was 2 months ago... crazy. But we finished out night making unbelievable mini pizzas!! (As shown) wow they were good.
Friday was a very difficult day. Nothing gave. We gritted it out and celebrated with peanut butter sandwiches and letters from Grandma at 10 at night! My Nana is such a G... Someone explain to her what the means. Saturday was a little better. We found a couple new investigators (been doing a lot of door knocking lately..) But THEN that night i had a first. We always pass this group of bums that yells at us.. So usually i just ignore them, and tried to when one of them came up to me. But then was surprised at his humility, when he asked for a minute of our time. He looked at me, calling me senhor, and asked `Can you heal this?`I don't know what leprosy looked like, honestly i don't. But if i had to guess, it would look a lot like this.. He pulled up his shirt and was literally covered from head to toe in horrible sores. I honestly didn't know what to say.. We promised him to return, still not sure what we are going to do...
Sunday was a good day, except that we had 0, yes 0 investigators at church. We are hurting so bad on that front. We are trying SO hard to get people to church, but Satan is just kind of kicking our butts. Aside from that though we had a lot of good visits, including watching the testaments with Alex and Giselle. When we were leaving, they stopped us and said Wait! Aren´t you going to mark a passage for us to read?? Unbelievable... Man i love them.
Yesterday was a really tough day. We only had 1 lesson... yeah, real bad. It was a good lesson though. I thought it went really well until at the end when we asked if they had questions the wife asked... So do you guys believe in God? Come OOONN! That is ALMOST as bad as the time we taught an awesome second lesson (plan of salvation) and the first thing the woman said after is.. So have you guys ever heard of reincarnation?? Sometimes i just want to slap my investigators. But i dont, because they are children of god, stupid children of god, but children.
People. I'm sorry this was long. But sometimes i just want you all to experience the things that i do, all of them! Because i literally feel myself changing, feel myself becoming more Christ like, I'm so far, but improving. And really, that's all we can do. Continue to improve until Christ comes and saves us all. Because he will come. I love you all so much.
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Elder Alex Allred
Caixa Postal 13008
91010-971 Porto Alegre-RS
Brasil
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