It’s been a good
week. The weather has been mostly
great! Very pleasant for walking. If this is still winter, we like it! It is surely not winter as we know it in
Idaho. However, natives tell us that we
haven’t experienced a typical winter here.
This week has been just cool enough to make us appreciate the sun. We have really enjoyed it.
We have spent quite a
bit of time this week in Promorar which is quite a ways out from the center of
the city where we live. So we grab a bus
and then walk around the neighborhoods in Promorar looking for members, both
active and less-active. There are a lot
of members of the Marina branch who live there.
We have had several members warn us about the area, especially one young
man about 19 years old or so. He told us
that there were areas of drug dealing and crime in Promorar. He warned us that we were obvious targets and
that we should be careful. He stressed
it quite a bit to us. We met the Sister missionaries on the street out there
one day. They pointed out an area we
should avoid, especially after dark. It worried us a little, but not much. We are only in that area during the
daytime. We are careful to not carry
much money. Sister Shirley does carry a
big bolsa (purse). But it only contains
scriptures, books, maps, branch member lists, etc. (If people realized that, they
would be disappointed if they did rob us.)
The one thing that we carry that President Castro has warned
missionaries not to carry is our camera.
We love to take pictures. But we
try to be careful when we take them and watch to see who is around to
observe. We try to transfer our pics to
the computer regularly and only use a small SD card in the camera so we
wouldn’t lose all of our pics if we were robbed. However, we try to be safe and
really do feel safe.
Actually, we have
found Promorar to be very friendly and welcoming. Multiple times this week we have had people,
young and old come up to us and ask if they can help us find someone. We must look lost as we stand around a lot
studying maps and branch lists. One day,
we observed a young girl who must have been around 14 or so. She was up a hill some distance from us. We saw her stop, turn around, and watch
us. Then she came walking back towards
us. Since it was obvious she was looking
at us, we waited to see what she wanted.
She wanted to help us locate a house number. House numbers don’t always go in order and
can be pretty random sometimes. She couldn’t find it either. But she was sure nice. We had a guy stop sawing wood to help
us. Another was cutting a big metal can
out by the road and stopped to help. Several times women have come up to ask if
we needed help and actually walked with us.
One such women was walking with us when we met the Sister
missionaries. They assumed we knew her
and gave her a wonderful, friendly greeting, complete with hugs and kisses. The woman just hung around listening to us
visit for a few minutes. She had to be impressed at our friendliness. Another time, a young boy of about 9 came up
and wanted to help. He also walked with
us. He was also full of questions about
what we were doing and what church we represented. He wasn’t timid with us at all. Needless to say, we have given out lots of
cards this week. Promorar has been good
to us and we have met lots of good people, including members and non-members. We
also keep running into Alidiane Tischler.
She is always happy to see us and wants to know what we have been doing.
We have also seen some really pretty
areas. We are enjoying Promorar and are anxious to
continue our work there this week.
We had the privilege of
teaching Artur, a non-member, the lesson on the Plan of Salvation. He is the man that the Sisters asked us to
take over on. He is 66 years old…..the
same age as us. He enjoys working with
tools and showing us his shop. He makes
his own parts if he can’t find them and enjoys repairing most anything. He welds.
He likes guns and gunsmithing and owns guns. He plays the guitar. And he is retired. Sound familiar? Elder Shirley finds a lot in common with him
and enjoys our visits there. His wife
died a few years ago from a brain tumor.
He says he hasn’t found a woman that he can live with since. He has had quite a few visits from the
missionaries in the past. So he knows a
lot about the gospel already. He has all
of the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon.
He loves his family. Most of them
are Catholic. He says that he has been
to church a few times in the past.
However, we hear that he has a problem with one of the active members in
the Uniao branch. Uniao and Marina meet
in the same chapel. So he resists
attending church. But he seems to be
interested and enjoy our gospel discussions.
He committed to come to church on Sunday. Since the Sisters live nearby,
we asked them to stop by on their way to church and remind him. But he was waiting for his son to pick him up
as they had plans. We were
disappointed. However, we have another
appointment with him this week for another lesson. We put a bit of pressure on him already. We tell him, “Knowing all you already know
and already having all of the pamphlets and the Book of Mormon, our only
question is when will you be baptized?”
He seemed to take it ok and just kind of laughed it off. We are anxious to see how it goes this
week.
We filled in our week
with lots of other good visits. We stop
by Pedal de Ouro regularly and visit with friends and workers there. Gilly is a member who works there. She made us a treat this week. It was a chocolate bolo (cake). It was delicious. When we returned her bowl, we filled it with
our fudge jumbles. We have visited a
couple of times this week with Rosi and Gelson and Francine. Francine was sick again, so they didn’t come
to church again. Rose is a professional
seamstress. She had made some really
cute coats and has already sold 3 to the Sister missionaries. So we bought one too. It will be a good remembrance of her for us
to take home. We also visited again with
Edson, Luciane, and family. She is
Nelson’s (the pan maker’s) daughter. They are both less-active members. Their teen-age kids have not been baptized. Their
son, Kevin, played his guitar for us again.
He had been working on a song in English (by Lincoln Park). It was a good visit. They agreed to let us notify the Sister missionaries
to contact them. We also enjoyed
visiting with several other members.
We attended sacrament
meeting in both the Marina and the Uniao branch on Sunday. There was good attendance in both, but
especially in Uniao. In sacrament
meeting in Uniao, it was really good to see how many young women they have
now. They also are getting quite a few
young men too. It was good to see some
passing the sacrament today. Many of
them are recent converts. And many of
them participated in our dance at the Baile.
One young woman that comes from a strong, active family received her
Young Women medallion today. She comes
from a family of 7 kids. Everyone,
including mom and dad are very active. It is rare to see a family with seven kids down
here. Most only have two or three. And it has been rare for a young woman to get
her Personal Progress completed. So
Presidente Samuel made a fuss over her in Sacrament meeting. He read about the requirements and put the
necklace on her. She was so pleased and
so was everyone! It was fun to see.
It is also good to see
soccer end. It was getting tiresome to
have to be in our apartment during Brazil’s games. Businesses closed up too during game time. Although everyone wished that Brazil would
have done better, they didn’t seem too surprised. More embarrassed than surprised. It has also really been a political thing
too.
We had some especially
good thoughts given out at District Meeting this week. One was a thought from Aristotle: “We are
what we repeatedly do. Excellence,
therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
For us, we always feel like we should just keep trying. That is what is important. That is what we try to do. “I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me.” (Philippines 4:13)
Our thoughts and
prayers continue to be with you. Lots of
Love,
Eu te amo!
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