Well this week was complicated. Carnaval did a
great job of screwing up our week, along with some kind of cold that I
caught that w-i-p-e-d me out. It was the first time I was really sick on
my mission. It was a bit rough, but at least my body chose a less
productive time of the year to get sick (I actually thanked Heavenly
Father for that one). There were a few "blocos" of Carnaval parades that
passed through our areas. It's a strange holiday. A big excuse to drink
and commit sin. Everyone walks in the streets as cross-dressers (did I
ever mention how many homosexuals there are in Recife? It was one thing
that I never expected here....I'm not sure why either but any-whoooo).
There was a huge party outside of our investigator's house. It was a bit
difficult to teach by the spirit with Brazilian rap shaking the entire
house. Carnaval lasts for an entire week. We had to stay in our
apartment if we were in earshot of the party music, and regardless of
what was happening outside, the entire mission had to return home at
5PM. I'm glad to say that I'll never again have another Carnaval!
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| Us with José and Dora and their son Tiago. He's been living in Holland to study for his PhD in Physics (sounds like he's pretty smart huh? I think the smartest person I've ever taught in my mission). We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was enjoying reading from it....it'll be fun to see what happens with him. He was visiting here in Recife just for this week....he already retruned back to Holland. |
We
had lots of time to plan for zone and for our own area. We had a zone
meeting which was really really successful. We talked a lot about goals
and why we need to really feel personally responsible for achieving
them. It's not a "covenant" with the Lord, but it is an agreement that
we make with ourselves and with him. After all, we owe it to the Lord to
be the best we can be (it doesn't matter if we are members or
missionaries, we all owe this same thing to our Father in Heaven!). It
is the least that we do to show our gratitude for our Savior's atoning
sacrifice.
We've
had some really cool experiences with our recent-converts, which are
all rock-solid. Marta, Ana, and Diego have really gone through some
incredible changes in their lives. They are feeling the difference that
the presence of the spirit is making in their lives. Marta wrote us a
note this week thanking us for having brought the blessings of the
Gospel in her life. It was an incredibly special moment for me. It
really is the greatest joy there is. Nothing beats being used by the
Lord to change someone's live like that.
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| Marta and her 3 cute little kids. Really a special family. |
I
apologize for my letters which seem to be continually shrinking. I want
to share more of my experiences, but the increasing devotion of time
that I give to our other weekly mission reports is always limiting my
time to write my family. The experiences that I've been having here are
incredibly special. One day, I look forward to being able to share them
with all of you in their fullness! After all, there's a time and a
season for working and planting, and there's a time and a season for
rejoicing and reflecting!
Until next time,
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