Well this week was exciting. We're experiencing the best of
Spring Storms. We have thunder and lightning all around. Also, Elder Souza has
chicken pox. In Portuguese, that's catapora. So every day this week, one of us
stayed at home with him. My day was Thursday. And I slept. Missionary work is
Tiring!!
So the word of the week was Catapora. Except then I found a
better word.
ALFABETIZAR. At first, you'd think this verb means "to
alphabetize," But it doesn't. It means "to teach to read and
write." So once again, Portuguese wins the most effective word award.
Because, for example, "alfabetizaríamo-lhes" means "We would
teach them to read and write."
I studied more about missionary work this week. I've been
trying to find ways to make the ward-missionary correlation more effective. I
found in D&C 12:6 that as we keep the commandments, we will seek to bring the
light to others, or be it, missionary work is a commandment. Also, we have a
promise in D&C 11:6-10 that we will be helped as we do missionary work. I know
this is true. I also know that there is nothing more powerful than a member who
acts as a missionary. They do our job way more effectively than us.
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| We found a shortcut! It saves about 5 minutes on our walk to Primaveira |
In the same chapter, I like verses 23 and 24 which promise
us that if we seek good things we will always do good works.
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| This looks like Texas! |
So now as to this week-
One thing I noticed this week is that Brazilians are really
courteous about drinks. They always pour you your drink- be it water or juice
or whatever- in front of you. That's really comforting when you're in a house
of drunk people and they offer you Guranana (the same color as beer). You can
know that you're not getting handed anything secret!
We visited a guy named Ladmir this week. It was really
surprising to enter his house, because we'd already made contact with several
of his family members- we just didn't know it. They'd been street contacts who
wouldn't pass their address, but said they would talk to us if we'd stop by
(each one was a different contact) (contacts like that are kind of frustrating
and annoying). Anyway, he gave us his address, we passed by, and guess what? We
found a new family to teach. So that was cool. Kind of like a mini miracle.
We taught a professor of art this week! She is super smart.
Also, her children are all really really successful. She only has one daughter
that lives in Osorio, in the area of the other elders. So we passed that
reference to them. But Janet is really cool. She is an amazing artist, and her
house is full of beautiful art! She has a lot of interest in the plan of
salvation, and we had a really great lesson with her!
We had a baptism planned for this week- Paola. We baptized
her brothers a few weeks ago, and she just turned 8. Since we're waiting for
her mom and dad to marry before they can be baptized, she's a convert baptism.
Sadly, it was really cold, and because she has problems with asthma, she was
unable to enter the cold font. But we'll baptize her in one of the coming
weeks. Her grandma, Rosa, also wants to be baptized. But her desire is special-
she wants to be baptized in a river! So we're looking for a river. Our goal
with Rosa and Paola now is to baptize both of them on the last Sunday of the
transfer- in a river! So that'll be exciting!
We passed a lot of time at Greice's house (daughter of Rosa,
mother of Paola). I am really grateful for the environment in which I was
raised. They don't have a very big house, but that's normal here. Sadly, it's
always crazy there! They all communicate through yelling and it's super loud
and chaotic. Usually we arrive and the TV is on full blast without anyone
watching it. It's really amazing to feel the spirit enter their house as we
turn off the TV and everyone calms down and sits down to pray and listen to our
messages. I really like the kids there. Marcio, Luiz, Paola, and Maria. I feel
kind of like a big brother to them. They look up to me in a way similar to my
own siblings. They always have questions for me and ask me to help resolve
their problems. It's comforting in a home-like sort of way.
Lastly, we had District Conference (That's like Stake
Conference, but for a District which is a group of Branches) this week. It was
really cool. We got to hear from President Wright, and meet his son, who just
got home from a mission in Florida. He flew down to Brazil to see his parents
for two weeks. Isn't that cool?
It was really funny to communicate with him, because for the
first time in months, I was talking to someone who didn't know Portuguese. With
Elder Angus and Eliason, we'll mix Portuguese and English together, and as I
talked with president's son, I kept slipping into Portuguese. I wouldn't
realize it until he stopped me. That was really funny. And I guess it's a good
sign because I'm speaking the mission language!
Lastly, on Sunday we were teaching a new family, and they
told me that I was speaking Portuguese with less accent than Elder Angus, even
though he had better grammar. Since accent is one of the hardest parts of a new
language, I think that's a huge step!
Gotta run, but have a great week!
But one more thing first- Since Elder Souza is sick,
everyone is giving us food! And for the first time ever, the fridge is full!
Love,
Elder Jasperson
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| Government housing project (notice the identical houses) |
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