November 17, 2014

So this week was fun. We went to the temple, for starters! We arrived a bit later than we wanted because Elder Schiavoni got sick and we had to walk slowly. But we got there right on time for the session. We took the train to the Bus Station in Porto Alegre. There, we searched for a bus that'd take us to the Burro of the Temple. I started asking people in the street for directions, nobody knew. In the meantime, Elder Schiavoni was trying not to throw up.

Well from nowhere, two guys in military uniforms came over to talk to me. I wasn't quite sure what they wanted, but they started asking weird questions about the Church. They told me that they frequent the Universal Church, which is pretty popular here in Brazil. They were trying to "Confound me with their words" like the bad guys always do in the Book of Mormon. So instead of answering all their questions, I bore my testimony and invited them to come to church. Well then they started laughing and congratulating me, because they were actually members of the church. They complemented me for being a good missionary and then gave us directions to get the bus that went to the Burro "Chácara das Pedras" (which is where the temple is). Poor Elder Schiavoni ended up throwing up on the bus, but after that he felt a lot better.

So we were pretty lucky this week because we caught the new train. There are several trains that pass on the line, and when you're lucky, you get the new ones that have air conditioning and are completely open- you can walk from one car to the other. So Elder Giles and I decided that we'd get in the train on the first car and that we'd manage to cross the whole train before having to get out. So we went weaving around the people because it was pretty crowded and managed to get all the way to the last car before getting off! I'm pretty sure that we're the first people ever to do that! I wonder what the security guys thought!

To motivate a companionship of Sisters in Portão, I challenged them to do more contacts than me, promising to make a banana and strawberry cake for the winner. So I bought the stuff and went to bake the cake (which I took to the District Meeting to give them). Well I put the bananas in the blender and found out something really important- our blender has a hole in it! So when the banana turned into liquid, it all spilled out onto the shelf and the floor. Luckily, I'd bought extra bananas!

Last week we found Marisa. She seemed a bit skeptical about our message, but she accepted to pray and to receive our second visit. So we went there again and she had received an answer to her prayer! When things like that happen, it makes my testimony stronger- because it confirms that God really does answer prayers! Lots of times people don't pray, and lots of times they don't ever recognize their answer. But she explained to us how she felt- and that she would follow the answer. Sadly, she ended up not going to church :(

Another Investigator also received an answer to her prayer this week - Carine. She told us that after reading the part we'd marked in the Book of Mormon and answering the questions that we'd written in the margin, that she prayed. She too recognized the answer and told us that she wants to be baptized. Yay! The Transfer is tomorrow and São Leopoldo is going to change to have Sisters. That means that we're going to leave. So the Sisters will be happy to arrive here with two Investigators just waiting to be baptized!

Elder Jasperson