Oi! Elder Shirley describes our week as a
“sloppy, sweaty” week! It has been hot
and humid with thunderstorms every day.
Most days the temps have been in the 90’s. But even on days like Monday, when the
temperature was 88F, the weather report said that with the humidity it felt
like 99F. One day the sky was pretty
scary looking. We ran into Maximiliano
and Karina on the street and they told us that a funnel cloud had been
spotted. People all around were stopping
to take pictures of the sky. We have
also had some real downpours and have been caught in some of those gulley
washers. We have had to carry umbrellas
every day. Although with the winds, it has been a challenge to keep them from
turning inside out. The forecast for the upcoming week is for more
of the same. Although we still walk a
lot, we are glad that we have our bus cards and can ride as often as we
do. One of the storms caused a power
outage in some areas of the city when the wind blew a tree down on a power line. We were lucky. Our power stayed on. But the four Sisters and Elder Buhler and
Gorham lost power. The Elders lost water
for a time too and had to come to our apartment to take their Saturday
showers!
We have had some good
visits this week. We hadn’t seen José
for a couple of weeks. So it was good to
see him again. And Artur still hasn’t
found his dog, Bola. But we got to meet
his new friend, a cat he has named, Elder.
We discovered that “Elder” should really be named “Sister”. She is a friendly kitty and has a good
“motor” when she finds a lap to sit in.
So she joins our discussions now.
Artur has been tired this week.
He says it is because of so much work.
He is always repairing something for someone. But we had a good discussion with him. We told him about President Monson’s message
about “The Bismark” from the priesthood session of General Conference and tied
it into setting goals as well as the power of the priesthood. This has turned out to be a good message that
we have shared in several homes this past week.
Our goal for this next while is just to visit and support the leaders of
the branches and to visit those who have been missing Sunday meetings and seem
to need an extra help. We also enjoy
being able to teach some lessons to follow up new- member baptisms.
One day Elder Buhler
and Elder Gorham called. Olíbio, a
relative of a member from Santa Cruz, was visiting and had a tree fall on
him. He had some head injuries and was
in the hospital about to have surgery.
He was requesting a blessing. So
we met the Elders at the hospital and they were able to give a blessing. Elder Shirley and I returned the next day to
see how the surgery went. Olíbio was in
good spirits and doing better. His wife
was there with him. They seemed happy to
see us and we had a nice visit. They
seem like very good people. They live in
a town some distance away that doesn’t have the church in it yet. But we hope there will be a way to get the
gospel message to them. They seem very
receptive.
President Castro,
Sister Castro and their son, Lucas, came to town this week. A couple of assistants came with them for a
Zone meeting. All 12 missionaries from
our Zone met with them for instruction and interviews and a blessing for
some. We always love to meet with
President and Sister Castro. He will be
released as mission president in June of this year. President Swensen was mission president when
our mission call was first issued. We
had the opportunity to visit with him and his wife several times on the phone
as well as at our home after his release as mission president. President Swensen was instrumental in us
getting called to Brazil. We feel
grateful to him. And we have really
loved President Castro. He is a
spiritually powerful leader. You can
really feel it in his presence. He is
also kind and caring. He will be missed
in the mission. So we will be on our
third president! Except that we will go
home before the new mission president actually arrives. President Castro told us that he will make
the announcement as to who his replacement will be in March. Since our zone meeting, however, we have seen
the announcement on the internet about the new mission presidents. It is hard to keep a secret now days! (But
we aren’t telling anyone!)
It was another wedding
week! We love attending weddings! This was the marriage of a couple in the
Cachoiera branch, Roger and Juliana. The
ceremony was held in the chapel and the reception at another nearby
location. Fortunately, the rain held off
for this event! There were a lot of
people in attendance, music and a nice meal including a churrasco! President Torres and his wife, Carolina, gave
us a ride to the reception and then home afterwards. He has been President of
the District for 10 years. We really love this couple. It was fun to sit at the table with
them. President Torres has a business,
the Wizard, teaching English. So when we
visit with them, we speak a mix of English, Portuguese and Spanish (as they are
from Peru). Carolina is learning English
as I am learning Portuguese. It was a
fun time!
Sunday was a marathon
day for Elder Shirley. Since it is
summer, a lot of people go out of town to the praia (the beach). It is vacation time here in Brazil! Several leaders in the branch are out of
town. That means that leaders fall back
on the missionaries a little more. Elder
Shirley had the opportunity of speaking on Sunday in two different branches,
Marina and União, on two different subjects. It was tricky to keep track of which
talk was for which branch. He did a
great job! Sister Foutz also got
recruited to speak in the União branch.
Elder Buhler was recruited to lead the music the last minute. Good for missionary minute men (and women)!
A few Christmas cards
just caught up with us. It was a real
treat to receive them. We like to think
of Christ every day of the year too, not just on Christmas! We are so appreciative of those who took time
to send cards. They are a boost to
us! It is so nice to hear from friends!
So we are just
spending our time seeking out those who need a visit. Before our mission, Elder Shirley dreamed of
a trail in Brazil that led to someone that really needed a visit. So every trail that we come across that looks
like the one in Elder Shirley’s dream, we take.
We always ask ourselves if this is the same trail, the right trail. And actually, any trail that leads to someone
wanting to hear the gospel message is the right trail! Right?
But we keep looking and wondering!
Happy trails to
all! We miss you! We love you!
Eu te amo!
I love your blog, Elder and Sister Shirley! I am Elder Gorham's mother and I love the pictures you take of Elder Gorham. You can see why I miss that smile so much. Thank you for taking care of my dear son. His dad and I mis him so much. May the Lord bless you in all that you are doing.
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