Lucas (young man baptizing them), Sis Barbosa
Greetings from the
sweat capital of Brasil,
I´ll
just start off with what everyones wondering, we had a baptism this week!!!
Irmão Manoel who we met on the street about a month ago. It was so cool. He is
a very interesting guy. He has a few problems that are somewhat evident because
he suffered a huge trauma when he was 20, and now he’s 45. at first i just
thought he was different because sometimes you have to be really really patient
cuhs he gets distracted easily, but he gets so so happy when we talk about the
gospel and teach him. its amazing to have been able to see the light that grew
within a man without a family, without a job, without anything really, but that
faith in christ gave to him. it was also amazing to tell that although a part
of his mortality and mental, not disabilities but challenges, hold him back
sometimes in social situations, he understands everything we teach him. its
like his physical mind can hold him back but his spirit recognizes all the
things that we teach him!
well because of the
baptism, the week was kinda scrambled and crazy, but it was good. i love
brazilian families here because they just know how to relax and be together and
take a break from all the craziness. last pday we went to jessica and tiagos
house which if you remember was the family that got baptized when i got here,
and they are just gold. we ate lunch with them and then they pulled out their mattresses
and put them all on the floor of the living room and they took a family nap and
sister barbosa slept in the hammock and me on the couch. they just know how to
have family togetherness time without having to be doing anything! i love being
able to take little parts from each family i meet and store away for my future
family.
we also had a surprise
family night with a less active family in the ward. it was seriously a
surprise, we all just showed up at their house one night with ward members and
said we were gonna have family night there. its funny cuhs a lot of times i
still think ´´this so would not be okay in america´´ but it just works here! i
knew if a bunch of people showed up at our house on a wednesday night
we´d all be crabby that they intruded and didnt call ahead and that the house
wasnt clean (only mom cares about that one). but the family was so so happy and
excited we were there and kept saying how grateful they were that we´d come to
their house. i love brazilian openness. i also love about brasil that the
people are much less full of stigmas and social norms that hold people back
from just being themselves. people just are who they are and arent embarrassed.
theyre not afraid to talk about religion like i sometimes was back home with my
friends. so dont be like me! people are searching for this light and truth and
hope we have, but you just gotta be brave enough to bring it up.
also just for future
reference, ive learned the mail here is pretty sketchy. they lose things a lot
or it takes ten years to get anywhere. also right now theyre on strike so that
put a damper in things. everyone’s on strike here at one point or another, the
mail, the banks right now, even i want to go on strike when my alarm goes off
at 6:30 and i feel like i slept 4 minutes.
i was thinkin about
christmas lately and decided its never too early to come up with a list. so
here are some ideas mother dear; sticky notes (regular and those little ones to
put in books), white cami (2 for $15), nikon camera memory card, Ricks Ready
Reference pocketbook, tape, sydneys christmas mish cd/any church music cd,
markers/colored pencils, $1 bills, mascara, stud earrings, gluestick, any recent
conference talks, copies of my piano sheet music including hallueljah from
shrek. tis the season! :)
a little girl just
came up to me and asked me if i teach an english class here she can take. oh
and her mom made her ask me. okay back to the week.
oh so as far as the
language goes. i pretty much can get by in whatever conversation now. unless
its about some really obscure topic. but the thing is that i dont want to just
get by, i want to be able to speak everything i think, without having to dumb it
down to fit my portugeuse vocabulary. i dont want to be just ´´good for an
american´´, i want to be good! but sister barbosa says i worry too much and i
already speak better than most americans but i think shes just being
nice.
Thats about it for my
week, we got to meet a lot of great new people this week because most of our
other investigators hit a wall or a fear or some obstacle that only a miracle
will help them progress forward now. sad but god always blesses us with new
people to teach. im even getting so happy im already nervous about transfers in
3 weeks!! i dont wanna go. *cheaper by the dozen when the twin boys are in the
carseats*. okay thats all for now folks, i love you guys lots!!
sister walker
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