-For division, I think that we normally start at night and end at night, but so far we have started in the mornings, switched companions, then ended the next morning. It is a little bad because we don´t have time to study when we do this.
-My portuguese is better. That is what I say when people ask me. I can communicate well sometimes, but my biggest problem is understanding what people say. Members that we have lunch with say that my portuguese is good, but that is only because I didn´t have any problems with them.
-My standard meals are usually cornflakes with a banana cut in and some sugar added. I like this, but they only have corn flakes, frosted flakes, and their version of coco puffs. So I am content with this meal. Lunch is usually rice and beans, some meat of some sort, salad, and another thing, usually some kind of pasta. Dinner is usually the same as lunch, but slightly smaller when we have it at a member´s house. Otherwise I have a ham sandwich which does not happen very often.
and now onto my week.->
and now onto my week.->
I bought the things to make treats this week so that was fun. I made chocolate chip cookies on Monday, and coffee cake on I think Tuesday, but I am not sure about that. I brought the cookies to my district meeting, and they all liked them. My companion really likes the cookies. They have some chocolate stuff here, so I am going to try to make some with it so they will be chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I made coffee cake, and my companion liked it, but not like the cookies. We had divisions this week as well, and so my companion for division (I will go into more detail later) tried it, and liked it as well. I do want to learn how to make the pudding here which I like, and they don´t have in the states.
We did a lot of knocking doors this week because it has been hard to find people who are there for the appointments we set. It has been frustrating as well because it is hard to teach people certain days because we only have certain days that we work in one of the 3 main areas we have. I came up with another analogy this week, and this one is about joy. Our lives are like a bucket, and joy is water in the bucket. The world shakes our lives and creates waves in our buckets where our joy goes up and down, but through the gospel of Jesus Christ we can pour more water into our buckets, and increase our average level of joy. We can pour more water in by living the gospel of Christ in our day to day lives. There are other things that increase our levels of joy, but the gospel of Christ is the only consistent way that always works.
We had divisions this week, and I stayed for the first time in my area. It was with Elder Fuzaro who is the Zone Leader, and has I think about 1 y and 7 m on the mission so he is experienced. It was really a great learning experience. I learned to focus on the spirit, and not on portuguese when I teach, and to always want to find people to teach. That means when you are frustrated that all you have to do is knock doors you need to still be excited. I also learned about things that we should be doing when we plan activites. For example always have people that you don´t have an appointment with that are in the area that you can try and contact. It was a great experience, but because he spoke English (he is not Brazilian) so I had trouble always talking in portuguese. I also learned that I need to learn the streets of all of my areas so that I don´t have trouble finding a place, (that happened during the division). The main reason for the division was for the baptismal interview with J. We had a little trouble though, because Elder R Santos forgot to give me the keys to the chapel, so we had to call a member to help us out. This division was on Friday-Saturday so I didn´t get to open my presents in the morning.
Saturday was my birthday, but it didn´t feel like my birthday, for most of the day. We had 4 appointments, and all of them fell through, and the other people that we tried to talk to couldn´t talk with us as well. So we went back to the house to prep, and study for the baptism. We went to the church, but we couldn´t get the water heater to work so the water was cold. The baptismal service was cool though, and I got to baptize J. It was awesome. before, and during the baptism I was focusing on the words, and doing in right, but when he came out of the water I felt a wave of joy come over me that can only come from the Lord, and I knew that I had helped J come onto the path of salvation. I forgot an extra white shirt so I rolled the sleeves up and sat there a little wet. After we went to E´s, and talked. Then we got a call about a referral that they wanted us to go visit. They picked us up, and it turns out that it was a party for me. It wasn´t very big, but it was cool. They had a cake because they forgot about fast Sunday, but they gave me half to take home. When we got home Elder R Santos just went straight to bed so I didn´t get to open my presents until Sunday night. That was okay though.
The Fast Sunday was cool because they give shorter testimonies, and a lot of people bear them. Some families go up together. It was cool, and confirming J (My companion did it) was cool as well.
So interesting fact. Pineapple in spanish is slang for iniquity. I learned this from a spanish speaker.
Thank you for the presents, and here are some more pictures. One is of Santa Angela, and another is of Elder Pr, and me during a division. The others are of my little birthday celebration for myself with the presents. Thanks again. I love you all, and I am so grateful for your support.
No comments:
Post a Comment