Letter 5/28/12

Well it was another week of madness here! I feel like we ran all around Pernambuco this week. That translates to a lot of time on buses.....and that means a lot of contacts! I like it though...while on our way to Recife to have a root canal for Elder Chapuis, I started talking to a lady on the bus. She asked me why my companion didn’t like to talk to people (he was sitting behind me looking out the window)....I didn’t know what to say exactly, so I said that he was really nervous to take have a root canal....it was pretty funny.

This morning I had a fun surprise waiting for me....I forgot to put the exit pipe of our washing machine in the sink when I started a load of laundry last night....we had about an inch of water in our apartment....wonderful! Another fun one....in our sacrament meeting yesterday, we sang "I need thee every hour"....there's a lady in the word who is absolutely hilarious, but she doesn't even know it. There was one part in the middle of the hymn..."I neeeeeed thee every hour!!!!", that she literally was screaming the words....the entire ward was crying trying to hold back laughter....the chorister was hiding his face behind his hymn book....the bishopric was hiding behind the pulpit laughing....I was bent over laughing at the ground....my word it was hilarious....it wasn't just one verse either....but every one of the 4 verses....it got worse and worse with each verse. The best part is that she was COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS to it. Boy....it was a funny one.

Well we are wrapping up things with Thayres and her baptism! She was having a lot of doubts about whether or not there could really only exist one true church. We showed her a movie about the Great Apostasy that explained super well about the necessity of having Apostles with authority from God to lead and guide the true church of Christ on the Earth. There was a member there that hit it out of the park with his testimony. The spirit was thick in the room. The next day, we got one of the best text messages ever! "Eu vou me batizar!" (I will be baptized). That was a fun moment....after praying and thinking about it, she realized that the spirit of the Lord really is touching her heart and showing her that this is the true church of Christ here on the earth.

We made a goal with Mical, a woman who is about 70 years old, to quit coffee and substitute it for cervada, which is something really similar to coffee, but apparently its ok to drink it according to the Word of Wisdom. We are hoping to have her baptism June 15th....we have been teaching her for a little over 2 months now....she just needs to kick the Coffee and make the commitment!

Eliel, our super-pastor, has been acting kind of strange lately....he told us that his surgery is going to take him away from the city every Sunday from the hours of 9-12.....coincidentally when church is....It's very strange indeed. Hospitals usually don't do surgeries here on the weekend. We think that he is hiding something, but we aren't sure what or why....He always tells us how much he wants to be baptized and goes to our English class every week. He just needs to go to church!!!

Alailson, another man we are teaching, has been firmly attending sacrament meeting for a month straight now. His situation is unfortunately complicated. He is married to another woman that lives about 4 hours away, but is living with and recently impregnated another woman, Ana Paula.....to be baptized (which he has a very strong desire to do....) he will need to be divorced to this first lady (which will cost about $200 in travel expenses) and then married to this second (which will cost another $80). He was asking the church to pay for these expenses. That doesn't really work here. I don't personally have a problem with helping someone marry, but to get divorced.....that's a bit more complicated. The Lord is going to need to help Alailson out here. I have absolute confidence that the Lord can provide a miracle for him.

We decided this last week to increase our focus in our area to working more with less actives. Abreu e Lima has 550 member.....about 70 are active....that comes out to about 12-15% activity rate....yikes....There's lots of work to be done here. While working in a neighborhood, we came across a house....after we knocked on the door, a lady sitting across the street called to us and told us that she lives there. Her name is Patricia. She is about 30, but was baptized 15 years ago. She served a mission in Sao Paulo, and served in several callings in the church. She ended having some differences with the other members, and fell away from the church. After talking with her for a good period time, she opened up to us. She couldn't believe that we had showed up on her doorstep without being sent there. It was purely a "coincidence" (as we like to call them) that we were in that neighborhood that day, that we were working with less actives, that we saw her name on the list, that she was home.....everything! After following up with her yesterday, we found out that she was contemplating suicide on the day we showed up there....after talking with her for a whileand leaving a message with her, she couldn't believe what was happening to her....she was happy....she was feeling the Spirit....and I couldn't believe what miracle the Lord had performed for us! Being the instruments in the Lord's hands truly is the best. Still think it was a coincidence?

The work goes on here! I see things every day that touch my heart, increase my understanding, and illuminate my mind. I'm learning more things here thousands of miles away that I would never be able to learn at home as "Michael McKinley"....I have to forget myself for 2 years and turn myself into a servant of the Lord to truly learn these things. It's impossible to describe what a mission means to me. You really do have to serve one to understand. The Lord is too good to us. Like I like to say to my companion everyday, "It's a great day to be a missionary!"

Until next time,
-Elder McKinley